Research Update: Barbados Local Currency Ratings Raised To 'B-/B' On Debt Exchange; 'SD' Foreign Currency Ratings Affirmed

Foreign Currency: SD/--/SD Local Currency: B-/Stable/B For further details see Ratings List. Barbados' new administration has completed its local currency debt exchange, initiated an economic recovery plan, and received approval from multilateral lending institutions for new sources of financing. As a result, we are raising our long- and short-term local currency ratings on the country to 'B-/B' from 'SD/SD', and are assigning our 'B-' local currency issue rating on the domestic debt issued in the exchange. In addition, we are raising our transfer and convertibility (T&C) assessment on Barbados to 'B-' from 'CC'. We are also affirming our 'SD' long- and short-term foreign currency sovereign ratings on the country, and our 'D' issue-level ratings on the country's foreign currency issues.

...(Editor's Note: The original version of this article, published on Nov. 16, 2018, was missing the "Principles For Rating Debt Issues Based On Imputed Promises" criteria in the Related Criteria list, which we use to rate Barbados' foreign-currency 2029 bonds and local currency long-term bonds. A corrected version follows.)...

Research Update