Beirut
Lebanon’s credit ranking was cut deeper into junk by Fitch Ratings as one of the world’s most indebted nations finds its finances stretched with a dwindling flow of cash from abroad.
The rating company downgraded Lebanon for the first time in three years, taking the sovereign down two notches to CCC, according to a statement. Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings affirmed Lebanon’s rating at B-, six steps below investment grade and one level higher than Moody’s Investors Service.
“The downgrade reflects intensifying pressure on Lebanon’s financing model” and increasing risks to the government’s debt-servicing capacity, Fitch said. “While recent policy steps point to nascent fiscal adjustment,” a credible medium-term plan to stabilise the government’s debt to gross domestic product ratio “is lacking,” the firm said.—Reuters
