S&P: Dubai has insufficient funds to cover debt

An analyst at credit rating firm Standard & Poor's says Dubai has "insufficient" funds to pay back billions of dollars worth of debt coming due, putting added pressure on the city-state to raise additional cash.

An analyst at credit rating firm Standard & Poor's says Dubai has "insufficient" funds to pay back billions of dollars worth of debt coming due, putting added pressure on the city-state to raise additional cash.

HT Image

Farouk Soussa, S&P's head of Middle East government ratings, said Sunday that the sheikdom has about $ 4 billion left from a February bond issue, but must find a way to cover as much as $ 50 billion over the next three years.

He says "the notion that the government will be able and/or willing to stand 100 per cent by all that debt on an equal basis is wrong."

Soussa's comments come two days after a top Dubai official told CNN the government could seek to raise another $ 10 billion through government bonds as early as this month.