Slovenia’s ratings: why so varied?
Credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Slovenia on Tuesday to junk status, citing its weak banking system. After its being so often compared to Cyprus, you might think that’s fair enough.
But the downgrade leaves Slovenia in something of an odd position: it now has the widest range of ratings from the three main agencies out of any sovereign. Why the spread? Continue reading »
Fitch downgrades China – just a little local difficulty?
That’s how Ian Bremmer of Eurasia Group (and an FT columnist) reacted to news that Fitch Ratings lowered China from AA- to A+ on Tuesday. There were plenty of other worried and puzzled reactions. But how great a worry is it really? Continue reading »
Fitch downgrades LG on the margins
A credit ratings downgrade is the last thing that LG Electronics needs at a time when it is struggling to steal market share from bigger rivals Apple and Samsung Electronics in the competitive smartphone market.
Fitch Ratings downgraded LG’s long-term foreign- and local-currency debt ratings from BBB to BBB- on Monday, the lowest investment grade, citing the South Korean company’s continued weak operating margins and thin free cash flow generation, despite its improved operating profit last year. Continue reading »
Egypt: Fitch cuts to B amid crisis
Persistent protests and violence, a state of emergency, an increasing funding crisis: Egypt is having a tough 2013 so far.
It’s not a surprise then, that rating agency Fitch downgraded the country from B+ to B on Wednesday, and kept the country on a negative outlook, meaning further downgrades could follow. Continue reading »
Turkey’s unorthodox monetary policies get a thumbs up
Fresh from receiving a gong that ranks him above his peers, Turkey’s top central banker has received a further vote of quiet confidence for his management of the country’s consumption -hungry economy.
Erdem Basci, recently chosen as Central Banker of the Year by The Banker, the FT’s sister publication, can now also point to a favourable review by Fitch Ratings for one of the complicated mechanisms with which he seeks to slow the economy down. Continue reading »
Rating agency Fitch is ending the year with predictions that sub-Saharan Africa will be “a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy world in 2013″. With growth expectations of above 5 per cent, the region is set to benefit from rising investor interest, and upgrades may be in order.
Among the agency’s 15 rated sub-Saharan sovereigns, nine have stable outlooks and three positive. So who are the ones to watch? Continue reading »
Fitch lifts Turkey to investment grade
Fitch on Monday became the first international credit rating agency to upgrade Turkey to investment grade.
The lira jumped on the news – strengthening by about 0.6 per cent against both the euro and the US dollar. While some investors had expected an announcement in advance of a Fitch conference in Istanbul this week, others weren’t sure the agency would move so soon. Continue reading »
New rating agency to “align with common interests of human society”
Photo: Bloomberg
Credit rating agencies from China, Russia and the US are establishing a joint venture that they say will change the assessing of risk in global finance.
Dagong, a Chinese agency that has repeatedly downgraded the US, Egan-Jones, a small US agency, and Russia’s RusRating said they were answering calls for reform of the international credit rating system by linking forces to create the Universal Credit Rating Group. Continue reading »
Fitch and Turkey: moving towards investment grade?
Turkey has just received quite a meaningful pat on the back.
Fitch Ratings declared on Thursday that the Turkish economy is on track to stage a soft landing, hailed the country’s “remarkable” boom in exports to the Middle East and signalled that Ankara could soon get something it fervently wants: investment grade status. Continue reading »
What Nigeria needs to make the grade
How do you get to investment grade? It’s a question that interests many developing economies. Handily, credit rating agency Fitch has just published a few pointers for Nigeria, a country that is three notches below the magic level.
The research compares Nigeria to seven other emerging countries that have made the step up. So what are the key areas that Nigeria needs to improve? Continue reading »
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Stefan Wagstyl
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