El Salvador Repays $800 Million Debt, President Bukele Slams Media for Misreporting

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele criticized international news outlets for their coverage of the country’s debt situation, stating that they incorrectly attributed it to El Salvador’s decision to adopt Bitcoin.

He clarified that despite reports suggesting the country was at risk of defaulting on its 2023 bond without an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, El Salvador had already fully repaid its $800 million debt along with interest.

Well, we just paid in full, 800 million dollars plus interest. But of course, almost nobody is covering the story. I just found one, yes ONE, in spanish, from Colombia. They lie and lie and lie, and when their lies are exposed, they go on silence mode.

he took to Twitter.

Bukele cited a report in the Spanish newspaper El Pas with the headline “El Salvador expected to default as bitcoin plummets,” along with many other news outlets such as The Newyork Times, IMF News, The Washington Post and more.

On Twitter in July of last year, he called out a New York Times report asking, “By the way, they say we’re heading to default. Will they publish an apology once we pay everything on time?.” The piece was headlined “El Salvador’s Big Bet On Bitcoin Isn’t Paying Off.”

Full page spreads on the @nytimes and all, creating the narrative that El Salvador was broke and going to default.

I called them out at the time, but of course, who was going to believe us and not every international news outlet and their “economic geniuses”? https://t.co/a3YCZUjRg2
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) January 24, 2023

Following the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender last year, the country has made a number of contributions to mass adoption.

According to Reuters, El Salvador has repaid an $800 million bond, Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya said on Monday, the same day the bond was set to mature, as the Central American country faced pressure to make progress in debt reduction.

“We announce today that we have completed payment of the 2023 bond for $800 million, plus interest,” Zelaya said on Twitter, calling out a “disinformation campaign” in national and international media.

According to Bloomberg, El Salvador’s debt situation appears to be improving, as evidenced by the strong performance of its dollar debt, which has increased by an average of 23% this year, making it the best-performing emerging economy tracked by a Bloomberg index.

Additionally, the country secured a $450 million loan from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, providing financial stability and enabling El Salvador to meet future bond payments until 2025.