The United States on Tuesday granted Venezuela permission to hire financial advisers to begin restructuring its debt, an important step that could allow the country to emerge from decades of economic malaise.<\/p>\n
The Treasury Department has been easing sanctions on Venezuela following the ousting earlier this year of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>, its former leader. On Tuesday, the department issued a general license<\/a> that will allow Venezuela to begin the process of repaying approximately $60 billion of defaulted bonds owed by the government and its state-run oil company. Venezuela owes about $170 billion to investors around the world across all kinds of debt, including commercial loans and interest.<\/p>\n Venezuela can now begin hiring consultants, lawyers and bankers as it prepares to restructure its debts, which include billions of dollars of unpaid compensation owed to oil firms such as Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips.<\/p>\n Since the downfall of Mr. Maduro, the United States has essentially taken control of the Venezuelan oil industry. President Trump has urged U.S. and European oil giants to invest at least $100 billion into Venezuela<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has said that it has started sending millions of dollars of oil revenue to Venezuela\u2019s government. However, it remains unclear<\/a> exactly where that oil money is going and how it is being used.<\/p>\n Rebuilding the oil industry alone could cost more than $180 billion<\/a> and take more than a decade, according to analysts at Rystad Energy, a research firm. Even then the country would produce less than it did at its peak in the 1990s.<\/p>\n