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Now, Fitch places Venezuela on 'selective default'

Now, Fitch places Venezuela on 'selective default'

Now, Fitch downgrades Venezuela

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On Tuesday, Standard & Poor's had placed the debt-ridden country in the "selective default" list.

A day after rating agency S&P downgraded Venezuela over its failure to make overdue payments, Fitch ratings too downgraded the cash-strapped nation to 'RD' (Restricted Default).

On Tuesday, Standard & Poor's had placed the debt-ridden country in the "selective default" list. S&P had said it had downgraded the issue ratings on Venezuela's bond which it had failed to pay to D from CC and cut the country’s long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating to selective default, or SD, from CC.

"Fitch Ratings has downgraded Venezuela's Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'RD' (Restricted Default) from 'C' and affirmed the Long-Term Local Currency IDR at 'CC'," the ratings agency said in a statement.

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The downgrade "reflects the failure of bondholders to receive overdue interest payments on Venezuela's sovereign bonds maturing Oct. 13, 2019 and Oct. 13, 2024 by the end of the 30-day grace period that ended on Nov. 13, 2017," Fitchsaid.

The downgrade comes even as the government declared on Wednesday it had successfully begun the process of refinancing its foreign debt.

"The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela wants to inform the world that today, at the Miraflores Government Palace, the process of refinancing Venezuela's foreign debt was started with resounding success, as a strategy to fully comply with our obligations," an official statement read.

However, creditors and rating agencies still do not know how the oil-rich nation will pay up its debts. Venezuelan Opposition has accusedthe Maduro government of wrecking the economy.

The Opposition has been demanding "free" and "fair" presidential elections in 2018 presidential election in a bid to put the economy back on track.

At least 125 people have died in the past four months in violent protests against Maduro as the country's economy has crashed to new a low with several people unable to afford food products and basic amenities with inflation at an all-time high.