Lebanon seeks restructuring for US$1.2bil bonds

BEIRUT: Lebanon will suspend a US$1.2bil eurobond payment due today and seek talks with creditors to restructure its entire US$90bil debt pile, the first step in a broader plan to stabilise an economy in crisis.

“Our foreign currency reserves have reached a critical and dangerous level, forcing the Lebanese republic to suspend payment on its March eurobond, ” Prime Minister Hassan Diab said in televised address. “How can a country’s economy grow on borrowing and how can we be truly free while we’re drowning in debt?”