Lebanon Rated Stable

Fitch Ratings kept Lebanon’s credit status at ‘B-’ with a stable outlook on Friday, a week after Moody’s downgraded the country over concerns about its very high debt-to-GDP ratio, Reuters reported. Fitch said its rating reflected Lebanon’s very weak public finances and high political risk, as well as its large foreign reserves and strong banking system. Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings has also kept its foreign and local currency sovereign credit rating for Lebanon unchanged. “Lebanon continues to show modest progress in normalizing its divided political system, as evidenced by the adoption of the new electoral law in June this year,” said S&P in its rating announcement. “Still, we anticipate that the general government debt burden will remain very high through 2020.” The rating agency kept its B-/B score for Lebanon unchanged, and maintained its stable outlook on the country, saying that inflows of deposits will remain steady over the next 12 months to support the government’s borrowing needs and external deficit.