Picking up

Twenty-four hours after Moody’s downgraded Barbados’ domestic credit rating, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) says the economy is “accelerating” and so the agency was maintaining the island’s BBB- investment grade rating and placing the economic outlook at “stable”.
A detailed report from primary credit analyst Olga Kalinina, who has been tracking the Barbados economy for several years, said S&P believed “the economy has bottomed out and that economic activity is now accelerating”.
S&P said it would upgrade Barbados’ rating if the country’s economic prospects strengthened in a sustained way or if fiscal accounts showed structural improvement.
If the situation deteriorates, however, she said a downgrade was likely to follow.
The analyst said Barbados’ fiscal position, which was a significant weakness of its credit profile, had improved in 2010 and this was in line with S&P’s expectations.
Read the full story in today’s DAILY NATION.