NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Aug. 8, 2002--Standard&Poor's today affirmed its double-'B' long-term local and single-'B'-plus long-term foreign currency sovereign credit ratings on the Federative Republic of Brazil. The outlook on the ratings remains negative. "The new US$30 billion Standby Program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provides substantial potential liquidity through December 2003 that is expected to ease market pressures at least in the near-term," said Credit Analyst Lisa M. Schineller. "While the agreement is consistent with the stated intentions of the main presidential candidates in this October's election—to adopt fiscally responsible policies—implementation will be challenging," she added. According to Ms. Schineller, with general government debt (net of deposits) projected to be almost 70% of GDP at
