IT’S JUST BECOME a bit more expensive and difficult for local companies to raise money on the international market.
That, says economist Ryan Straughn, is part of the fallout from the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgrade of the credit rating of Barbados and big insurer Sagicor Life.
According to him, a good credit rating allows companies “to raise capital fairly cheaply and rather easily on the international market” while an unattractive one would make it more expensive for those businesses seeking loans or to float bonds on the international market to “drive new investment”.
However, he said it was the downgrade of Government’s credit rating last December which had triggered the lower grade for Sagicor, the biggest insurer in the Barbados market.
Please read the full story in today’s Daily Nation, or in the eNATION edition.