Welcome

Dennis Jones is a Jamaican-born international economist, who has lived most of the time in the UK and USA, and latterly in Guinea, west Africa. He moved back to the Caribbean in 2007. This blog contains his observations on life on this small eastern Caribbean island, as well as views on life and issues on a broader landscape, especially the Caribbean and Africa.

*NEW!!! LISTEN TO BLOG POSTS FEATURE ADDED!!!*

*PLEASE READ COMMENTS POLICY--NO ANONYMOUS COMMENTS, PLEASE*

*REFERENCES TO NEWSPAPER OR MEDIA REPORTS ARE USUALLY FOLLOWED BY LINKS TO ACTUAL REPORTS*

*IMAGES MAY BE ENLARGED BY CLICKING ON THEM*

*SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG BY E-MAIL (SEE BOX IN SIDE BAR)*


______________________________________

**You may contact me by e-mail at livinginbarbados[at]gmail[dot]com**

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Another Rung Down The Ladder: Barbados' Debt Rating Cut Again

Barbados' debt woes continue to weigh on its international credit rating. Today, Moody's lowered its government bond rating by one notch to Baa3 (from BBB, given in June), or just one notch into investment grade (i.e., one notch above 'junk' status; see Wall Street Journal report). The ratings outlook is stable.

In a succinct assessment, Moody's analyst, Alessandra Alecci, said "Barbados' key debt indicators have been on a deteriorating path over the past decade, and are now at levels that compare poorly with other countries in the same rating category." Moody's cited the steep rise in the country's government debt, which Moody's expects to exceed 100% of GDP, compared with 65% in 1999.This is consistent with the views in the IMF's recent assessment of Barbados. Moody's noted that the recession has reduced business and leisure travel, on which Barbados relies heavily. Despite those concerns, Moody's isn't worried about the government's ability to finance its short-term needs or about a balance-of-payments crisis.

No comments: