It's the politics, stupid!

n the first day of October, the Ministry of Finance issued a statement about the credit rating of the Government of Lebanon issued by Moody's Investors Services (MIS). The statement was released following the meeting of the committee in charge of reviewing the credit rating. Moody's decided to keep its current rating at Caa1 and to put it under review for three months, with a possible downgrade if it does not become evident that things are moving in the right direction. Looking at Moody's report as posted on its website, one can discern the reasons that will push it either to maintain the rating of the Government of Lebanon or to downgrade it. Let's first acknowledge that this report is objective, accurate, and well-informed. We hope this may persuade official decision-makers to approve a more balanced public budget as well as reforms that are more in line with standards that would push Moody's