Capitalise on improving economy, urges Governor

Central Bank Governor Dr Kevin Greenidge is calling for a major injection of investment this year, especially from the private sector, on the heels of Barbados receiving its third credit rating upgrade since October.

However, economist Dr Ankie Scott-Joseph, while giving an overall positive assessment of the upgrade’s impact on the cost of financing and investor confidence, said the “effects of upgrades were not as visible as downgrades because investors have the tendency to incorporate negative news viciously into their decisions than positives”.

Stable outlook

Caribbean Information and Credit Rating Services Limited (CariCRIS) announced yesterday that it upgraded by onenotch from CariBBB- to CariBBB (Regional Scale Local Currency) the sovereign issuer credit ratings assigned to Government with a stable outlook.

It said the ratings “indicate that the level of creditworthiness of this obligor, adjudged in relation to other obligors in the Caribbean is adequate” and that the stable outlook is “based on the balance between the anticipated primary surpluses which contain debt and the modest growth expected over at least the medium-term”.

The CariCRIS upgrade follows the October 15 Fitch Ratings upgrade of Barbados’ credit rating from B to B+ with a stable outlook and the November 5 upgrade by Standard & Poor’s (S& P) from B- to B with a positive outlook. (SC)

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