Venezuela Gets $1.9 Billion as Dominican Republic Pays Debt

(Bloomberg) -- The Dominican Republic paid off almost all of a $4.1 billion debt owed to Venezuela for years of oil shipments after raising funds through a bond sale last week, Finance Minister Simon Lizardo said.

With a discount of more than 50 percent, the government used $1.93 billion to pay off 98 percent of its debt to Venezuela, Lizardo told reporters Thursday in Santo Domingo. The deal will immediately reduce its public debt by about 3.3 percent of gross domestic product, Lizardo said, according to the government’s information service.

“In very rare occasions can a country make a transaction of this magnitude,” he said. The agreement, negotiated for more than a year with Petroleos de Venezuela SA, was concluded on Jan. 27, according to the Finance Ministry.