تصفيات كأس العالم .. الأردن 3 - 0 عُمان (تحديث مستمر) الملك يتبادل التهاني هاتفيًا مع رئيس دولة الإمارات بمناسبة عيد الأضحى بلدية السلط الكبرى تطلق خطة شاملة لضبط النظافة خلال عيد الأضحى الملك يتبادل التهاني هاتفيًا مع الرئيسين المصري والفلسطيني بمناسبة عيد الأضحى الملك يلتقي رئيس الوزراء البريطاني في لندن إقبال محدود على شراء الأضاحي في سوق عمان الأمم المتحدة: تزايد ترهيب وعنف المستوطنين الإسرائيليين ضد المجتمعات البدوية الفلسطينية يوم عرفة..تكافل وتضافر بالدعاء والذكر بين الحجاج من الجنسيات كافة أوقاف محافظة المفرق تحدد مصليات عيد الأضحى المبارك سوق بيع الأضاحي في الزرقاء يشهد تراجعًا ملحوظًا الظل لا يُعارض مصدره 85% نسبة إشغال فنادق العقبة خلال عطلة عيد الأضحى مندوبا عن الملك وولي العهد.. العيسوي يعزي عشيرة الشرع البنك المركزي الأوروبي يخفض أسعار الفائدة الفايز يهنئ الملك وولي العهد بعيد الأضحى المبارك المسلمون يُحيون يوم عرفة في أجواء إيمانية وروحانية الأمير فيصل يدعو لتحويل الرياضة إلى بيئة آمنة تعزز السلام المجتمعي ولي العهد يغادر إلى مسقط لمتابعة مباراة “النشامى” الشيخ فيصل الحمود يهنئ الأردنيين بعيد الأضحى المبارك الملك يتبادل التهاني هاتفيًا مع العاهل البحريني بمناسبة عيد الأضحى

Credit ratings underscore need for Lebanon reforms: Finance minister

Credit ratings underscore need for Lebanon reforms Finance minister
الأنباط -

Lebanon is committed to economic reforms and will overcome its crisis, the finance minister told Reuters on Friday after Fitch downgraded the country’s credit rating to CCC while S&P kept it at B-/B.

Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said the ratings reports showed the urgency for reforms, which the government has long put off. "There should be no slacking for a single moment,” he said.

Lebanon is grappling with one of the world’s heaviest public debt burdens at 150 percent of GDP and years of low economic growth. Government finances, riddled with corruption and waste, are strained by a bloated public sector, debt-servicing costs and subsidizing the state-power producer.

Lebanese leaders have warned of a financial crisis without changes. The impetus to enact reforms has grown with the slowdown of deposits into its banking sector, a critical source of finance for the state.

The government is now trying to put public finances on a more sustainable path with a deficit cut in the 2019 budget and a plan to fix the state-run power sector, which bleeds funds while inflicting daily power cuts on Lebanese.

Fitch said on Friday its downgrade of the country’s credit rating to CCC from B- reflected "intensifying pressure on Lebanon’s financing model and increasing risks to the government’s debt servicing capacity.”

Lebanon requires substantial capital inflows to fund its large twin budget and current account deficits, it added.

"We will deal responsibly with the reports,” Khalil said. "We are confident we will be able to get out of the crisis.”

S&P Global affirmed Lebanon’s credit rating at B-/B and said the outlook remains negative. The report said it expects Lebanon to make progress on reforms to improve investor confidence given the weakness of foreign currency inflows.

Markets have been pricing in the risk of a sovereign credit rating downgrade in recent days.

Friday’s downgrade would have no "material impact” on investor holdings of Lebanon’s bonds as the debt was already rated non-investment grade, said Jan Dehn, head of research at emerging markets investment manager Ashmore Group. "The government has done more on the reform side than many Lebanese governments in the past.”

Economists have questioned whether the government’s efforts were enough to meet its goals. The IMF said last month the deficit would likely be well above the government’s target of 7.6 percent of national output. In 2018, it was over 11 percent.

Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank, said the current situation should be a "wake-up call” for politicians to form a credible plan that would result in an investment grade rating.

Ghobril said cutting the deficit was a good step, but the government must do more to trim expenditures instead of "the easy way out” by raising taxes and fees. "They have to restructure the public sector; they have to fight tax and customs evasion, not in words but in actions.”


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