Fitch revises Bahrain view to negative

Fitch Ratings said it revised Bahrain's outlook to negative from stable and affirmed the sovereign's long-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings at BB+.

The issue ratings on Bahrain's senior unsecured foreign and local currency long-term bonds were affirmed at BB+.

The ratings on the sukuk trust certificates issued by CBB International Sukuk Co. 5 were also affirmed at BB+. The country ceiling was affirmed at BBB+ and the short-term foreign- and local-currency issuer default ratings at B. The issue ratings on Bahrain's senior unsecured local-currency short-term bonds were affirmed at B.

Fitch said the outlook revision reflects that beyond various near-term measures to rein in the fiscal deficit, the government has yet to identify a clear medium-term strategy to tackle high deficits and a rapidly growing government debt ratio. The lack of a medium-term fiscal framework, combined with the absence of the two-year budget for 2017 and 2018 six months into the budget period, creates increasing uncertainty around the outlook for debt and deficits.

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