China Ceases Loaning to Venezuela – Research Group

China will be giving no more credit to Venezuela as the latter has not been paying off its loans in time amid a slump in oil production, director at Inter-American Dialogue research group Margaret Myers says.

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – Inter-American Dialogue tracks down China’s loans to Venezuela and other Latin American states. According to the research group, China has given a total credit of $60 billion to Venezuela since 2007.

"China is not especially interested in loaning more money to Venezuela," Margaret Myers said as quoted by CNN Money on Friday.

Venezuela stills owes Chinese state banks about $20 billion, according to experts cited by CNN Money on Friday, but has been slow to pay out its debts as oil production went down to a 13-year-low in Venezuela this year.

Venezuela has been in a state of an economic emergency since January, with product shortages having become widespread in the country. Venezuela’s opposition has blamed President Nicolas Maduro for the economic crisis.