Economics

Bond Backlash Shows Time Is Running Out for Lebanon

Automobiles line a street in the neighborhood of Gemmayze, populated with bars and cafes, Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, July 24, 2018.Photographer: Sima Diab/Bloomberg
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The market’s memory is so short when it comes to Lebanon that a few weeks of government inaction all but wiped out a bond rally fueled by Gulf aid pledges and the end of a nine-month political stalemate.

The brief morale boost is giving way to frustration among investors and creditors as a new cabinet formed in January fails to discuss, let alone act on, promised measures meant to shrink a yawning budget gap and jumpstart growth. The economy is creaking under the strain of public debt, which the World Bank has warned is on “an unsustainable path.”