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Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Moody’s Maintains Jamaica’s Rating and Stable Outlook As members of the Honourable House are aware, the country’s credit rating is regularly assessed by the two most prominent international rating agencies, namely, Moody’s and S & P. Recently, S & P, although maintaining its overall rating for the country, assessed the outlook as negative, citing the fiscal deficit and the debt-to-GDP ratio as major areas of concern. After S & P, there has been a great deal of anticipation about the imminent assessment of the country by Moody’s. I am pleased to inform the members of this Honourable House that in its most recent update, Moody’s has maintained its ratings on both the country’s foreign credit as well as its domestic bonds. Furthermore, its rating outlook for the country remains "stable."
In looking to the future the opinion states "Moody’s expect that the forthcoming budget for the FY 2003/2004 will contain measures aimed at correcting the sharp fiscal deterioration observed in FY 2002/2003 while placing the fiscal account on a path to reach a sustained overall fiscal surplus." This assessment by Moody’s will undoubtedly assist our efforts to stabilize the domestic macroeconomic situation, even as we contend with major external challenges and uncertainties.
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