Outlook stable: S&P affirms Pakistan’s ratings at ‘B-/B’
“We believe Pakistan government’s reform efforts and the International Monetary Fund lending programme will help contain external liquidity risks and gradually strengthen the country’s fiscal and economic profiles,” S&P said
Standard and Poor’s ratings agency has affirmed ‘B-’ long-term and ‘B’ short-term sovereign credit ratings on Pakistan with a stable outlook.
“We believe Pakistan government’s reform efforts and the International Monetary Fund lending programme will help contain external liquidity risks and gradually strengthen the country’s fiscal and economic profiles,” S&P said in its assessment on Monday.
However, Pakistan has significant security risks, weak institutional and governance effectiveness, low external liquidity, low per capita income, a weak fiscal profile, high public debt and a lack of monetary flexibility, it pointed out.
The stable outlook on the long-term rating balances the potential benefits of the government’s reform efforts and the IMF lending programme against vulnerabilities from external liquidity risk and domestic and external security risks, S&P said.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 1st, 2014.