20110103
reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Crisis-torn Ivory Coast has missed a coupon payment on its $2.3 billion Eurobond that was due on Friday, but a month grace period means it is not yet in default, the London Club of commercial creditors said on Monday.

The West African nation has been engulfed in a violent power struggle since a disputed November 28 election left two men each claiming to be president and setting up rival governments.

The interest due by Friday's close was almost $30 million, but it has until February 1 before the contract is in default.

"The coupon was not paid on Dec 31. My feeling is that there is a willingness from the Ivorians to pay. There is a grace period of 30 days, they are not in default," Thierry Desjardins, London Club chair and senior vice president of debt rescheduling at BNP Paribas, told Reuters by telephone.

Incumbent Laurent Gbagbo has refused to step down, despite U.N.-certified electoral commission results showing that he lost to rival Alassane Ouattara, who is internationally recognised as Ivory Coast president but remains trapped in a lagoon-side hotel guarded by U.N. peacekeepers and blockaded by pro-Gbagbo forces.

Gbagbo retains control of the security forces, state TV, government buildings, and the lucrative cocoa and oil sectors.

But he has been cut off from state accounts in the West African CFA franc monetary union, because he is not recognised by the region's leaders, raising questions about which camp should make the payment.

Ivory Coast's debt has already been restructured twice because of past defaults, and any repetition would leave it frozen out of international debt markets.