VENEZUELA'S BIGGEST PRIVATE DEBTOR FACES DEFAULT
Venezuela's biggest private sector
company, La Electricidad de Caracas, will meet urgently with
bank creditors in New York on monday to discuss the danger of a
total default on its 622 mln dlr foreign debt, a company
spokesman said.
    "We are in an impossible situation, unless we get
government relief the company will be bankrupt in three years,"
he told reuters.
    La Electricidad's problems stem from the government's
decision in december to set private debt payments at 7.50
bolivars per dlr instead of 4.3, adding 74 pct to the debt in
bolivar terms.
    La Electricidad is seeking permission for a 50 pct increase
in industrial and commercial tariffs, which officials say would
bring in an extra 1.3 billion bolivars this year.
    A 30 pct tariff increase introduced in january will only
bring in an extra 600 mln bolivars per year as against
additional debt costs of 900 mln.
 Reuter
