LONDON (Standard&Poor's) Nov. 2, 2001-–Standard&Poor's today revised its outlook on the Kingdom of Morocco to negative from stable. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed its ratings on Morocco, including its triple-'B'/'A-3' local currency and double-'B'/'B' foreign currency credit ratings. The outlook revision reflects the country's weakened fiscal stance, and the pressures that continued high fiscal deficits are likely to exert on price and exchange rate stability. The central government deficit reached 9% of GDP in 2001, and is expected to fall to 6% of GDP next year, although this target may be missed if growth is less than expected. The debt burden (78% of GDP) has been fairly stable in 2001, with the higher
