NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 23, 2004--Standard&Poor's Rating Services said today that it assigned its 'BBB-' rating to Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior S.N.C's (Bancomext) US$400 million 3.875% notes due 2009. According to Credit Analyst Philippe Sachs, the 'BBB-' rating assigned to Bancomext's senior unsecured foreign currency debt mirrors Standard&Poor's long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating on the United Mexican States (BBB-/Stable/A-3 foreign, A-/Stable/A-2 local currency sovereign credit ratings). Bancomext, Mexico's third-largest development bank with assets of US$8.7 billion (Mexican peso [MxP] 95.4 billion at 11.0133 MxP per US$1) as of September 30, 2003, is fully owned by the Mexican government. "Bancomext's organic law stipulates that all of its contracted obligations are guaranteed by the
