S&P: Dubai Is Nearly Out Of Cash

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An analyst at credit rating firm Standard & Poor's says Dubai has "insufficient" funds to pay back billions of dollars worth of debt coming due, putting added pressure on the city-state to raise additional cash.

Farouk Soussa, S&P's head of Middle East government ratings, said Sunday that the sheikdom has about $4 billion left from a February bond issue, but must find a way to cover as much as $50 billion over the next three years.

He says "the notion that the government will be able and/or willing to stand 100 percent by all that debt on an equal basis is wrong."

Soussa's comments come two days after a top Dubai official told CNN the government could seek to raise another $10 billion through government bonds as early as this month.

by Joe Weisenthal