LatinNews Daily - 13 November 2024

*El Salvador’s government led by President Nayib Bukele has launched another debt repurchase offer for foreign debt due from 2027 to 2034, which has a principle amount outstanding of US$2.51bn. The five notes have interest rates of between 6.375% and 9.250%, according to a government statement. While the statement does not detail how the transaction will be paid for, an individual speaking anonymously to Bloomberg said that the debt repurchase is “contingent on new financing”. This comes as the Bukele government is reporting that El Salvador’s accumulated holdings of cryptocurrency bitcoin, which it adopted as legal tender in September, is worth over US$515m. This follows a surge in the cryptocurrency following Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election last week. It also follows a debt-for-nature swap carried out last month by the government whereby El Salvador repurchased US$1bn of bonds at a discount, with the savings to be used to help fund the conservation, water security, and ecosystem restoration in the Rio Lempa watershed, one of the longest rivers in Central America.