Sharjah, the third largest and populated emirate has appointed banks to accumulate as much as $1 billion from international debt markets as neighboring states are building up their finances to manage the impact of coronavirus pandemic.
The emirate has instructed HSBC Holdings, Mashreq Bank PSC, Sharjah Islamic Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank and others for a possible deal on the matter. A transaction could happen this week and gains will be used for general budgetary needs. Sharjah Government has refused to clarify the same.
Standard and Poor’s Global Ratings dropped Sharjah’s forecast to negative last month and insisted on its long-term rating at BBB, the second-lowest in the investment grade.
The coronavirus pandemic, copulated with a fall in oil prices has put considerable a stress on the finances of Middle Eastern Oil Producers pushing Saudi Arabia, Qatar, members of the UAE and Bahrain to trade more than $30 billion of bonds this year.
Abu Dhabi had recently procured supplementary funds from international debt markets just weeks after a $7 billion bond transaction as it took advantage of a decline in financing costs.
