NewsWhore
09-28-2006, 03:17 PM
Fitch Ratings has raised the Dominican Republic's B rating from stable to positive due to its economic recovery in the face of an economic crisis three years ago. Though this is good news for investors, Fitch Ratings warned that the liquidity in the Dominican market is still very fragile. This factor is worrisome because any loss in confidence in the market could cause a loss of capital like that in 2003.
The assessment agency based its decision on the strength of the country's economic recovery and expectations that the government will be more successful with the implementation of its structural reform agenda after gaining majority support of Congress on 16 August 2006. Other reasons mentioned are a very robust pace of economic growth, declining inflation, currency stability, a significant fiscal adjustment, a favorable balance of payments performance, a steady increase in foreign reserves, relatively low and improving external and public debt burdens and continued progress under the current IMF program.
Commenting on the upgrade in ratings, Franco Uccelli of Bear Stearns reported: "Fitch's revision of the Dominican Republic's outlook came less than six weeks after Standard & Poor (17 August) also lifted the credit's outlook to positive from stable. With both S&P and Fitch expressing favorable opinions on the DR through their positive rating actions, we believe that it is only a matter of time before Moody's, which rates the DR one notch lower than both S&P and Fitch, will follow suit."
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)
The assessment agency based its decision on the strength of the country's economic recovery and expectations that the government will be more successful with the implementation of its structural reform agenda after gaining majority support of Congress on 16 August 2006. Other reasons mentioned are a very robust pace of economic growth, declining inflation, currency stability, a significant fiscal adjustment, a favorable balance of payments performance, a steady increase in foreign reserves, relatively low and improving external and public debt burdens and continued progress under the current IMF program.
Commenting on the upgrade in ratings, Franco Uccelli of Bear Stearns reported: "Fitch's revision of the Dominican Republic's outlook came less than six weeks after Standard & Poor (17 August) also lifted the credit's outlook to positive from stable. With both S&P and Fitch expressing favorable opinions on the DR through their positive rating actions, we believe that it is only a matter of time before Moody's, which rates the DR one notch lower than both S&P and Fitch, will follow suit."
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)