US lauds finance ministry's efforts, hails Moody's upgrading Pakistan outlook to ‘stable’

Alice Wells says Pakistan can boost its growth, attract private capital, expand exports with bold economic reforms

Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells lauding Pakistan finance ministry’s efforts hailed Moody’s Investors Service upgrading country’s credit rating to stable.

“Pleased to see that @MoodysInvSvc [Moody’s Investors Service]has revised Pakistan’s credit outlook to stable,” Wells tweeted,  “Thanks to @FinMinistryPak’s [Ministry of Finance]  reform efforts and IMF program.”

She also said that Pakistan can boost its growth, attract private capital, and expand exports with bold economic reforms.

Pleased to see that @MoodysInvSvc has revised Pakistan’s credit outlook to stable thanks to @FinMinistryPak’s reform efforts and IMF program. With bold economic reforms, Pakistan can boost growth, attract private capital, and expand exports. AGW

— State_SCA (@State_SCA) December 3, 2019

On Monday, world’s leading bond credit rating agency revised Pakistan’s credit rating from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’ ahead of the launch of Eurobond and Sukuk worth around $2 billion in the world markets.

“The change in outlook to stable is driven by Moody’s expectations that the balance of payments dynamics would continue to improve, supported by policy adjustments and currency flexibility,” read Moody’s report.



“The improvement in the outlook is highly expected to revive foreign investors’ confidence in Pakistan, compelling them to pour-in significant amounts in different sectors of the economy like manufacturing, agriculture and exports and portfolio investment in stocks and debt markets,” experts said.

The US-based rating agency revised upwards the outlook after a gap of 18 months. Earlier, it had downgraded the outlook to negative in June 2018.