Right, so we’ll be hearing a lot about Qatar over the next 48 hours or so.
Doha has, of course, delivered its “response” to a laughably absurd list of demands set forth by Saudi Arabia (and its allies) who last month decided the best way to dispel the notion that Riyadh promotes and exports Sunni extremism is to scapegoat tiny Qatar which conveniently has some semblance of a relationship with Tehran.
Basically, the Saudis get to paint Qatar as the worst case scenario: a filthy rich sheikdom gone rogue, responsible for financing both Sunni terror groups and establishing kinda, sorta friendly ties with Iran.
Qatar correctly thinks this is a rather transparent attempt to hijack Doha’s foreign policy and punish it for pursuing its own agenda that may or may not always be consistent with that of its (former) allies.
If you’re interested in the backstory, you can peruse our full coverage here.
There’s been a lot of attention paid to Qatari stocks (which plunged nearly 9% in June) and on the riyal, which has come under tremendous pressure at various times over the past month. Of course, Doha’s debt is taking a hit as well.
On Tuesday, Moody’s cut Qatar’s outlook to Negative from Stable. Here are the bullet points from the agency’s rationale:
That, in turn, has NBAD Securities CEO Mohammed Ali Yasin concerned about Qatar’s bonds.
