Reply #52: Mexico reaches deal with Havana to restructure Cuban debt

[Judi Lynn]

Mexico reaches deal with Havana to restructure Cuban debt
Published on Monday, February 18, 2008

MEXICO (AFP): Mexico has struck a deal with Cuba on restructuring a 400-million dollar debt owed by the communist island nation, banking officials said Sunday.

"The signing of an agreement to restructure the debt ... is a major step toward the normalization of commercial and financial relations between both countries," read a statement by the Banco de Comercio Exterior de Mexico (Bancomext) Sunday.

Financial ties between the two countries have been strained over the past six years because of a rift over Cuba's debt, but the new agreement allows them to "restore their historic level of economic collaboration," Bancomext said.

http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-6113--5-5--.html

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Mexico to Refinance $400 Million Owed by Cuba, Bancomext Says

By Guillermo Parra-Bernal

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Mexico agreed to refinance $400 million in defaulted Cuban debt as the countries take steps to increase trade.

The accord, reached yesterday in Havana by diplomats, comes after six years of decreasing financial ties between the countries, the Mexican Trade and Export Bank said yesterday in a release. State-owned Banco Nacional de Cuba and the island nation's central bank will be responsible for the debt, according to the statement. Terms weren't disclosed.

The money being refinanced will be used to fund Mexican exports to the Communist-ruled island. According to data from the Mexican bank, known as Bancomext, trade between the nations fell to about $200 million last year from an average $435 million a year during the 1990s.

Under acting President Raul Castro, Cuba's government has been renegotiating terms of its defaulted debt to attract new investment and blunt the effect of a 46-year U.S.-led economic embargo. Since Raul Castro replaced his ailing brother Fidel in July 2006, Cuba has restructured $166 million in defaulted loans with Russia and stretched out payments with Venezuela for billions of dollars in annual oil purchases.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=arJ0Lf2y.EDk&refer=latin_america