Moody’s cuts Zambia to Ca

Moody’s Investors Service said it downgraded the government of Zambia’s long-term issuer ratings to Ca from Caa2 and changed the outlook to stable from negative.

“The downgrade to Ca reflects Moody’s view that Zambia’s capacity to service its debt has further weakened over the past year as weak governance has prevented rapid and decisive policy actions, leading to a substantial deterioration of fiscal metrics. In addition, external and liquidity pressures are rising rapidly amid exceptionally challenging global conditions, also increasing the probability of default,” the agency said in a press release.

“In Moody’s view, a restructuring of Zambia’s government debt that constitutes a default under Moody’s definition has become increasingly likely in order to address debt sustainability issues. Should a default occur, the losses expected to be experienced by investors will likely be larger than Moody’s previously estimated,” Moody’s said.

© 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.