S&P expects Dubai’s debt load to worsen, doesn’t see pre-pandemic recovery until 2023nn

  • Date: 08-Oct-2020
  • Source: CNBC
  • Sector:Economy
  • Country:UAE
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S&P expects Dubai’s debt load to worsen, doesn’t see pre-pandemic recovery until 2023nn

Jet skis pass by residential skyscrapers on the waterside in the Dubai Marina district in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Monday, June 8, 2020.Christopher Pike | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesDUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Ratings agency S&P forecasts an 11% contraction for the Dubai economy in 2020, with an already high debt load set to increase as some of the emirate's vital sectors struggle to rebound from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.  "S&P Global Ratings expects Dubai's economy will contract sharply by around 11% in 2020, owing in part to its concentration in travel and tourism, two of the industries most affected by COVID-19," the agency wrote in a client note last week. It sees the economy "only recovering to 2019 levels by 2023." Tourism in recent years has comprised around