S&P lowers Lithuania, Latvia, affirms Estonia

Standard & Poor's said it had lowered the ratings on Lithuania and Latvia, while affirming the ratings on Estonia.

The outlook on all three Baltic sovereigns is negative.

The agency said it lowered its long- and short-term foreign and local currency ratings on the Republic of Latvia to BBB/A-3 from BBB+/A-2, due to mounting external vulnerabilities and an expected fiscal deterioration.

In a related action, the outlook on the City of Riga was revised to negative from stable, and the BBB long-term ratings were affirmed.

The agency said it also lowered its long-term foreign and local currency ratings on the Republic of Lithuania to BBB+ from A-, due to the sovereign's expected fiscal deterioration and increased external vulnerability while the short-term ratings were affirmed at A-2.

At the same time, S&P said it lowered its transfer and convertibility assessment on Lithuania to A+ from AA-.

The agency also said it affirmed its A long-term and A-1 short-term sovereign credit ratings on the Republic of Estonia, due to the sovereign's strong public sector balance sheet and narrowing external imbalances.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.