Jun 2010 Financial News

T&T maintains stable credit rating

Jun 29, 2010

Regional credit rating agency CariCRIS has reaffirmed Trinidad and Tobago’s financially stable AAA credit rating.

The AAA rating is the highest a government can receive and acts as an assurance to lenders that the country has been able to meet its debt obligations.

CariCRIS reaffirmed the ratings of the government with a CariAAA grade for the country’s foreign currency rating and CariAAA for its local currency rating.

A statement yesterday from CariCRIS said, ’The ratings on the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago continue to reflect its strong, resilient and well diversified economic structure, a key rating strength.

’Another is the very strong external liquidity, evidenced by a healthy net foreign reserves position and low financing requirements.’

The agency also described the country’s level of debt as low.

Finance Minister Winston Dookeran said recently the country’s level of debt (a close to 50 per cent debt-to-GDP ratio) was reaching the marker which economists regarded as a signal that a country was headed toward a debt crisis.


Source:
Aretha Welch awelch@trinidadexpress.com
Trinidad Express
Tuesday June 29, 2010

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