Downgrade based on poor outlook

The structural deterioration of Barbados’ economy and a weakening of the country’s credit profile, with few prospects for an early turnaround.
They were among the vital factors which drove Standard & Poor’s, the Wall Street credit rating giant, to downgrade Barbados’ credit rating from investment grade to junk bond status for the first time in at least a dozen plus years.
And after waiting on the recent Budget to see how the Freundel Stuart administration in general and Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler, in particular, would tackle the poor economic outlook, S&P decided to act now, instead of delaying any longer its action on the rating.
“We downgraded the rating based on a number of factors which in our view reflected the structural deterioration and the weakening of the credit profile of Barbados,” was the way Kalinina explained both the timing of the firm’s decision and the reasons for its action.