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Kazakhstan's Ratings Lowered
Standard & Poor's has lowered Kazakhstan's sovereign rating to BBB- and Fitch has changed its prognosis for the analogical rating from positive to stable. Both companies say they expect effects from the credit crisis to hit the country, but note that high oil prices will soften the blow.
S&P lowered the country's sovereign rating on October 8. At the same time, It lowered its long- and short-term rating on obligations in tenge from BBB+/A-2 to BBB/A-3 and gave its short-term obligations in hard currency an A-3 rating. The ratings were removed from the agency's CreditWatch list and will not be reconsidered in the near future.
Fitch left Kazakhstan's ratings untouched at BBB for short-term loans and BBB+ for long-term, but changed its prognosis for them. Both agencies note that it is likely the government and National Bank of Kazakhstan will be able to control liquidity in the country. Fitch called the national budget “strong,” and S&P called the measures taken by the government so far “adequate.”
Both agencies noted that, while the effects of the world liquidity crisis may be mild in the country, the secondary effects – with real estate and construction, for instance – may be unpredictable. S&P predicts 6-8-percent economic growth in Kazakhstan in 2008 and 2009, compared to the 9.9-percent increase in GDP planned for this year.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 10, 2007
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Photo: Valery Melnikov
