S&P Sees #Dubai Debt Dropping Due to Economic Growth - Bloomberg

S&P Sees Dubai Debt Dropping Due to Economic Growth - Bloomberg

Dubai’s government could see its debt load drop this year, according to S&P Global Ratings, as a booming economy eases the burden that’s still high when the emirate’s non-financial public sector liabilities are taken into account.

Debt repayments that included $2.9 billion in bonds from 2020 to the first quarter of this year and reduced loans from Emirates NBD Bank PJSC will leave the government owing a forecast $66 billion by end-2023 — equivalent to 51% of gross domestic product and down from a “cyclical high” of 78% in 2020, S&P analysts led by Juili Pargaonkar said in a report published Monday.

Should the government continue to reduce nominal debt, the stock could decline quicker, according to S&P. It put broader public sector debt, which counts liabilities from non-financial government-related entities, at about 100% of GDP.