The ratings on Dollar General reflect our expectation that the company's value-focused merchandising strategy and continued store expansion will sustain the positive operating momentum and contribute to further improvement in credit measures. In our base case, we forecast total debt to EBITDA to decline to about 2.3x and EBITDA interest coverage to increase to 6x in 2012, through EBITDA growth. We view Dollar General's business risk as "satisfactory" (based on our criteria), because of its good market position as the largest dollar-store chain in the U.S., with over 9,000 stores, good prospects for future growth, and improved merchandising and operating efficiencies. Standard&Poor's economists currently forecast GDP growing 2.1% in 2012 and 2.2% in 2013, unemployment remaining above 8.0%
