Qatar's external liquidity position has weakened with the rapid growth of banks' foreign liabilities and public sector debt, which has pushed up the country's external financing needs. Nevertheless, Qatar's sizable stock of external assets means that the country maintains an overall strong net asset position. We are revising the outlook on Qatar to negative from stable and affirming the ratings at 'AA/A-1+'. The negative outlook reflects the risk that Qatar's external position could deteriorate further should the rapid growth in external debt continue to outpace external liquid asset growth, thereby reducing the buffer provided by its sizable external assets. On March 3, 2017, S&P Global Ratings revised to negative from stable its outlook on the long-term sovereign credit ratings on
