Saudi Arabia is in discussions with the Lebanonese government about providing financial support, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said on Wednesday.
“We continue to believe and put our money and commitment in Lebanon, we’ll continue to support Lebanon and we are working with its government,” Jadaan said in an interview with Reuters.
A Lebanese official source said Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri “has been talking to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at a high level about support”.
Lebanon’s dollar-denominated government bonds rose on the comments. The 2037 issue gained 1.9 cents to 64.88 cents in the dollar, while the 2029 paper added 1.8 cents to 64.00 cents in the dollar, according to Tradeweb data.
One of the world’s most heavily indebted states, Lebanon is aiming to drive through long-postponed reforms to put the public finances on a sustainable path.
The impetus has grown due to a stagnant economy and a slow down in the inflow of hard currency from Lebanese abroad that has long been a key source of financing for the state and current account deficits.
REUTERS
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.