FITCH RATINGS UPGRADES GEORGIA’S LOAN RATING BY ONE LEVEL: PRIME-MINISTER

Trend News Agency
Aug 28 2009
Azerbaijan

The international rating agency Fitch Ratings has upgraded Georgia’s
rating by one level to a "B", Georgian Prime Minister, Nika Gilauri,
said at a government meeting.

According to Gilauri, Fitch Ratings ranked Georgia highly on the basis
of economic analyses for various countries for the last six months.

The rise in its rating by one level is very important for Georgia’s
economy and for local businessmen, Gilauri said.

As a result of this new rating, businessmen will be able to obtain
cheap loans and draw foreign investment.

The agency did not raise the loan rating of any other country,
Gilauri added.

On June.2, Fitch Ratings approved the current long-term rating of
Azerbaijan at the level of BB + in the local and foreign currency. The
rating forecast is stable. Despite the demanding economic conditions,
in 2009 Azerbaijan managed to maintain economic growth and ensure
a consolidated budget by means of the achievements of recent years,
the agency said.

However, Fitch downgraded Armenia’s rating from the level of "BB" to
"BB-" on Aug. 12. Armenian Prime Minister, Tigran Sargsyan, explained
this with the decline in construction and the increase in the degree
of dollarization in Armenia. Sargsyan believes this is making the
country more vulnerable, tert.am reported.

The world financial crisis has had an impact on the deterioration of
rating indicators for other countries, too. Latvia’s rating dropped
two levels. Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakh ratings also decreased.