Lebanon News: Cabinet to Decide on Debt Crisis Bond Payment - Bloomberg:
Crisis-ridden Lebanon finally has a government again and top of its agenda will be whether to repay a Eurobond maturing in six weeks.
After lawmakers passed the 2020 budget on Monday, the new cabinet’s next major decision will be what to do about the $1.2 billion of bonds due on March 9.
The team of 20, led by Prime Minister Hassan Diab, a computing-engineering professor, will meet this week with nationwide protests continuing, the central bank’s foreign reserves falling and the diaspora inflows that have kept the economy afloat for decades slowing to a trickle. Government debt stands at more than 150% of gross domestic product, one of the highest levels for any country.
For most investors, it’s a question of when, not if, Lebanon defaults on its debt, which includes more than $30 billion of Eurobonds. Around a third are held by foreigners, with the rest owned by the central bank and local lenders, according to Oxford Economics. Lebanese banks also have billions of dollars of foreign-currency deposits parked at the central bank.
Crisis-ridden Lebanon finally has a government again and top of its agenda will be whether to repay a Eurobond maturing in six weeks.
After lawmakers passed the 2020 budget on Monday, the new cabinet’s next major decision will be what to do about the $1.2 billion of bonds due on March 9.
The team of 20, led by Prime Minister Hassan Diab, a computing-engineering professor, will meet this week with nationwide protests continuing, the central bank’s foreign reserves falling and the diaspora inflows that have kept the economy afloat for decades slowing to a trickle. Government debt stands at more than 150% of gross domestic product, one of the highest levels for any country.
For most investors, it’s a question of when, not if, Lebanon defaults on its debt, which includes more than $30 billion of Eurobonds. Around a third are held by foreigners, with the rest owned by the central bank and local lenders, according to Oxford Economics. Lebanese banks also have billions of dollars of foreign-currency deposits parked at the central bank.
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