Washington (AFP) – Global ratings agency S&P on Friday downgraded Turkey’s debt rating for the second time in four months, moving it further into junk territory and projecting the country will go into recession next year.

The agency cut the rating a notch to ‘B+’ and pointed to the weakening of the Turkish lira in the past two weeks, amid an overheating economy and high debt levels.

“In our view, the substantial weakening of the lira has negative fiscal implications…. We now project that the economy will contract in 2019,” S&P said in a statement.