On Oct. 13, 2008, Standard&Poor's Ratings affirmed its 'BB' long-term and 'B' short-term counterparty credit ratings on Banco Agricola S.A. (Agricola). At the same time, we revised our outlook to stable from positive. The outlook revision reflects the lower economic growth in El Salvador and lower loan growth for the bank expected in 2009. We think that a more adverse local and global environment could pressure profitability and asset quality in the rest of 2008 and into 2009. Real GDP growth in El Salvador is projected to fall to 3.5% in 2008 and 3% in 2009 from 4.7% in 2007. This is the result of stronger-than-expected spillover from the economic slowdown in the U.S. (destination for 50% of
