Fitch: Baltic states face challenges

Fitch Ratings said in a special report that the Baltic states face a challenging and uncertain 12 months as they undergo a rapid macroeconomic adjustment in a difficult global economic and financial environment.

All three countries have negative outlooks on their long-term foreign-currency issuer default ratings of A for Estonia, BBB+ for Latvia and A for Lithuania.

The agency said it expects the outlook and ratings to be driven by the nature and cost of the adjustment underway in the Baltic economies.

After years of strong, and ultimately unsustainable, growth fueled by massive capital inflows and rapid credit growth, a necessary slowdown is underway in the Baltic economies, Fitch said.

The downturn is sharp in Estonia and Latvia and they are at risk of recession, heightening downward pressure on creditworthiness, the agency said.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.