As Lebanon’s 9 March $2.5bn Eurobond maturity fast approaches, a government default looks more and more likely – if not this time around, possibly by the end of the year. This grim reality was evinced this week with another three downgrades to its credit rating from the big three ratings agencies.
Moody’s, which now puts Lebanon at Ca (one notch above ‘in default’), says it expects that “domestic and external private creditors will likely incur substantial losses in what seems to be an all but inevitable near-term government debt restructuring in light of rapidly deteriorating economic and financial conditions that increasingly threaten the sustainability of the government’s debt and currency peg.” (CONTINUED - 647 WORDS)
