Venezuelan debt

Despite high oil prices, Venezuelan debt has been increasing, and now Hugo Chávez wants to raise the debt ceiling to issue bonds over $20 billion rather than $12 billion.  It is interesting to note that in 2007 he wanted decree powers in part so that he could decrease the debt. Regardless, Venezuela has a lot of reserves but still its debt is viewed as risky.

One irony is that despite his rhetorical attacks on capitalism, with high interest rates Hugo Chávez has been making a lot of people rich.