Barbados has received its first credit rating upgrade in several years as Government’s efforts to fix the economy take root.
On Friday, international rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) raised its long and short term local currency ratings for Barbados from selective default (SD/SD) to B-/B. S&P also assigned a B- local currency issue rating on the domestic debt issued in the recent debt exchange.
Barbados has suffered about two dozen credit rating downgrades from various entities in the last ten years, but S&P attributed this new upgrade to the fact Government completed its local currency debt exchange, initiated an economic recovery plan, and received approval from multilateral lending institutions for new sources of financing.
The agency said it was “raising our transfer and convertibility (T&C) assessment on Barbados to B- from CC, adding “the stable local currency outlook balances our view of the Government’s commitment to a fiscal and structural adjustment with the economic and political challenges of doing so”. (SC)
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