Fitch Rating affirms Seychelles 'B' rating with a 'stable outlook'
June 01, 2021
The Minister for Finance, Economic Planning and Trade, Naadir Hassan, has welcomed the consolidation of the ‘B’ rating given to Seychelles by Fitch Rating.
Speaking to the local media, late this morning, Minister Hassan said it was important that the rating of Seychelles’ economic outlook was not downgraded.
“If we were downgraded further, there would have been serious consequences.”
Such consequences include;
a. cost of loan would become more expensive
b. lost of confidence by investors
Minister Hassan noted that the findings of the Fitch report are in line with what the Government is trying to achieve.
“We have been able to stabilise the economy which was one of the key issues which we needed to do as a Government.”
Minister Hassan has however, cautioned that the economic recovery is still ‘at the very beginning’.
“The economy is still very fragile. There’s still uncertainty around the evolution of COVID-19 pandemic, so we have to be very cautious in the way we move forward. The Government also has to ensure fiscal discipline in its spending and have to ensure the sustainability of our debts. We have to adopt the concept do more with less.”
Managing the Public finances and External finances are the two indicators that Fitch Rating has pointed could either lead to ‘positive rating action/upgrade’ or could ‘lead to negative rating action/upgrade.’
The Fitch Rating report affirmation of Seychelles ‘B’ rating reflects the agency’s ‘expectation for tourism and economic growth to recover, a moderate near-term commercial debt repayment schedule, and a good record of adherence to IMF programmes that support multilateral financing.’
The press conference this morning, was also attended by the Governor of Central Bank of Seychelles, Ms. Caroline Abel.
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