Improvement of Armenia’s Sovereign Ratings Shows Higher Confidence in
Country’s Authorities

YEREVAN, July 4. /ARKA/. Improvement of Armenia’s international ratings
shows increased confidence in the country’s authorities, Armenian
President’s Chief Adviser on Economic Issues Vahram Nersisyants said on
Friday.

Fitch international rating agency has upgraded Armenia’s long-term
foreign and local Issuer Default ratings (IDRs) to `BB’ from `BB-‘ (BB
minus). The agency has also upgraded the Country Ceiling to `BB+’ from
`BB’ and affirmed the Short-term IDR at `B’.

Nersisyants told journalists that Armenian Government headed by PM
Tigran Sargsyan has quite professional approach to own programs aimed
at reformation and new success achievement in economy.

`This enables foreign banks to mobilize their resources for applying
them in Armenia’, he said.
The presidential adviser said the outlooks changed from Positive to
Stable shows that Armenia is now viewed as stable country.

`Fitch specialists think that the atmosphere forming investors’
confidence has been created in the country’, he said adding that this
is a great achievement and `our nation can be proud of it’.
Fitch experts say that the upgrade of Armenia’s sovereign ratings
reflects the economy’s rapid growth, rising incomes and strong policy
framework, which the agency cited as potential triggers when it placed
the ratings on Positive Outlooks in May 2007.

According to Fitch, Armenia scores relatively favorably on the World
Bank’s Doing Business survey, where the country ranks 39th out of 178
economies, well above the `BB’ median of 98th place.-0–