Sovereign bond restructurings are rarely smooth. Lebanon’s looks like it will be particularly rocky. The rules underpinning the nation’s looming debt overhaul may complicate efforts to gather enough support to change the terms of its bonds, Bloomberg News reported. At the same time, they could protect the country from some of the issues that left Argentina with lengthy court battles.

Oman’s ministry of finance has cut by 5% the budget allocated to government agencies for 2020, according to two sources and a government circular seen by Reuters. The decision was “in response to the financial challenges of the country,” a source at the ministry of finance said. Oman, a small Gulf oil producer rated ‘junk’ by all major rating agencies, is expected to see its deficit widen this year because of lower oil prices, Reuters reported.

With distressed debt investors and emerging markets funds suddenly faced with one of the sharpest asset price falls in a generation, Lebanon picked the wrong time to go bankrupt, Reuters reported. Funds are still circling as the clock ticks down on Lebanon’s first sovereign default, but some may not buy until after the government unveils plans to revamp the debt and reform its economy, and the dust settles on a global asset plunge.

Iran is seeking financial aid from the International Monetary Fund for the first time since the 1960s as it tries to fight a major outbreak of the coronavirus, Bloomberg News reported. Abdolnaser Hemmati, the head of the Central Bank of Iran, said in an Instagram post that he requested approximately $5 billion from the body’s Rapid Financing Instrument. The fund has said it would make $50 billion available to help member countries deal with the epidemic.

With Lebanon in default for the first time in its history, banks are in crisis and the economy is in freefall. But one sector is booming: property. Desperate for a safe haven for their cash, citizens and professional investors have been buying up real estate at levels not seen for years in Lebanon’s previously stagnant property market, the Financial Times reported. At one central Beirut real estate agent, where the five-member team has toiled for months to the sound of the protests that have engulfed the Lebanese capital since October, the clients just keep calling.

NMC Health has found evidence of suspected fraud in its finances following damaging revelations over billions of dollars of undisclosed debt on its balance sheet and doubts over its cash position, the Financial Times reported. The Middle East-focused healthcare group this week admitted net debt was twice what it had disclosed, after it found almost $3bn of borrowings hidden from its board that had been used for unknown purposes. Shares were suspended at the end of last month.

Saudi Arabian banks may pay the biggest price among their regional peers as the kingdom escalates an oil-price war, Bloomberg News reported. Lenders in the world’s largest oil exporter, already dealing with a fragile economy, now have to contend with plummeting crude prices -- which could lead to more problem loans -- and the fallout of the coronavirus that’s closed the kingdom’s schools and limited cross border movement. A surprise interest rate cut last week also means profit margins are under pressure.

Oman is in talks with banks to raise around $2 billion in loans, sources familiar with the matter said, as part of plans to manage an estimated $6.5 billion fiscal deficit that may widen due to plunging oil prices, Reuters reported. Oman, one of the weakest economies in the oil-rich Gulf region, has piled up debt in recent years to offset the impact of falling crude revenues. Its debt to GDP rate soared to nearly 60% last year from around 15% in 2015, and according to S&P Global Ratings it could reach 70% by 2022.

Investors in Lebanon’s dollar debt are nursing big losses after the government failed to repay a $1.2bn bond due on Monday, triggering the country’s first ever sovereign default, the Financial Times reported. Lebanese dollar bonds have since lost half of their value, with the March bond trading at roughly 28 cents on the dollar on Tuesday, down from 57 cents on Friday. London-based asset manager Ashmore owned more than 25 per cent of the bond at the end of last year, according to fund filings compiled by Bloomberg.

NMC Health has discovered almost $3bn of debt hidden from its board that has been used for unknown purposes, in the latest disastrous revelation to hit the Middle Eastern-focused healthcare group, the Financial Times reported. The company, which until its suspension last month traded in the FTSE 100, said it had identified more than $2.7bn in debt facilities that had previously not been disclosed to, or approved by, the board. This takes its group debt to more than twice as much as the reported $2.1bn.