#Oman Has Work to Do Before a Bond Sale With Ratings All Junk - Bloomberg

Oman Has Work to Do Before a Bond Sale With Ratings All Junk - Bloomberg:

Before Oman succumbs to the temptation of selling Eurobonds, some analysts say the sultanate will first need to convince the market it’s pushing through reforms to tame its budget deficit.

That sentiment was echoed late Tuesday by Moody’s Investors Service, which downgraded the nation’s credit rating to junk. Oman now has a sub-investment grade by all three major rating companies.

“Investors continue to demand a higher risk premium on Oman due to technical and economic reasons,” said Mohammad Ahsan, managing director of rates and fixed income at Mashreq Bank in Dubai, who expects the nation to sell bonds in March or April. But “it should tap the debt markets sooner rather than later,” he said, given the pause in U.S. interest rate increases.