Venezuela Hits "Point of No Return" - 2016 Bankruptcy Is "Difficult To Avoid" According To Barclays

The economic emergency decree and any measures that the government could take at this point may be too late. After two years of inaction and the recent decline in oil prices, a credit event in 2016 is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid, in our view.

The government could still make the February payment using its available assets; however, they are insufficient to finance the gap of nearly USD30bn that Venezuela could face in 2016, considering our commodities team’s estimate of Brent at USD/b37, which is above what the oil future curve is pricing in (USD/b 32).

Inflation had reached 141.5% by the end of Q3 2015, but is likely to have continued to accelerate in Q4, possibly exceeding 200% as we expected, showing the effects of monetization of the fiscal deficit .... http://www.zerohedge.com