The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, addressed two proposals to the national congress on Tuesday in an effort to raise the money required to repurchase all bonds maturing in 2023 and 2025.
Nuevas Ideas, the party led by Bukele, has 64 of the 84 votes in the El Salvadorian congress and hence controls it.
According to Todayq News analysis of Bukele’s Bitcoin-related announcements, El Salvador has lost $55.8 million on its bitcoin investments, or around 54 per cent, of its original investment. The nation has already bought $103.9 million worth of bitcoin, at an average cost of $45,171 per coin.
El Salvador has had strained relationships with the traditional credit market in the recent past, including the International Monetary Fund, which has repeatedly advised El Salvador to stop treating Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender due to the financial risks and liabilities it creates. Bukele’s remarks are meant to quell rumours of a possible default by El Salvador.
Bukele claims that El Salvador has enough cash on hand to meet its existing obligations on time and to pre-purchase all of its debt through 2025. In November, Bukele disclosed plans to launch a $1 billion “bitcoin bond” using Blockstream’s Liquid, a bitcoin-based technology. That initiative was delayed, though, according to El Salvador’s finance minister, because of weak market conditions.
The cumulative outstanding amount of the bonds due in 2023 and 2025 is $800 million.
Bukele said in a tweet at the beginning of the month that El Salvador had bought 80 Bitcoins for $1.52 million. The nation had already purchased 500 coins in May for a total of $15.3 million, or $30,744 each coin.