NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's CreditWire) Jan. 8, 2001--Standard & Poor's today affirmed its double-'A'-minus long-term and 'A-1'-plus short-term local and single-'A'-minus long-term and 'A-2' short-term foreign currency sovereign credit ratings on Barbados. The outlook on the long-term ratings is stable. Standard & Poor's today also issued a commentary, "Barbados, OECD, and Lopsided Globalization," on the potential impact on Barbados from initiatives undertaken by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to challenge alleged harmful tax competition from the country's offshore financial sector. Barbados's higher local currency ratings reflect the sovereign's powers of taxation and control over the financial system, in addition to its record of low inflation and its developed domestic capital markets. Barbados' ratings reflect: -- Its
