Fitch downgrades Oman

Fitch Ratings said it downgraded Oman's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating to BB- from BB. The outlook is negative.

“The downgrade and negative outlook reflect the continued erosion of Oman's fiscal and external balance sheets, which have accelerated amid low oil prices and the coronavirus shock, despite some progress on underlying fiscal consolidation,” Fitch said in a press release.

Fitch said it now forecasts the country’s fiscal deficit at nearly 20% of GDP in 2020 (OMR 4.8 billion), from about 8% of GDP in 2019, well above the BB median, as a 32% fall in revenue pushed by lower oil prices and production more than offsets an 8% cut in spending.

© 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.