YEREVAN, October 12. /ARKA/. Economy minister Vahan Kerobyan said in an interview that Armenia expected rating agencies Fitch, Moody’s and S&P to improve the country’s rating rather than reaffirm its current ones.
“We were somewhat disappointed that our ratings were reaffirmed and not upgraded, as we do have significant progress in finances and high economic growth, which naturally should have influenced the rating. But risks were apparently also taken into consideration: we live in a complex geopolitical situation; the region is full of challenges,” said Kerobyan to the Public Television of Armenia.
The Minister said he had been told by representatives of rating agencies that Armenia’s real rating is higher than the final one. He expressed confidence that if the geopolitical risks don’t materialize, Armenia’s rating will be raised very soon.
The rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) yesterday affirmed Armenia’s long-term/short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings at “B+”/”B” with a “stable” outlook.
On September 2, Fitch Ratings affirmed Armenia’s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating (“IDR”) at “B+” with a “stable” outlook.
In March this year, Moody’s Investors Service affirmed Armenia’s sovereign rating at Ba3 with a negative outlook. –0–
