S&P ups Kazakhstan and Development Bank

Standard & Poor's said it raised Kazakhstan's long-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings by one notch to BBB and BBB+ from BBB- and BBB, respectively. The agency also said it affirmed the A-3 short-term foreign-currency rating and the KzAAA national scale rating.

The agency also said it upgraded its short-term local-currency rating to A-2 from A-3, and revised the transfer and convertibility assessment to BBB+.

In tandem with the sovereign upgrade, S&P also said it raised its foreign- and local-currency issuer credit ratings on the Development Bank of Kazakhstan to BBB and BBB+ from BBB- and BBB, respectively.

The outlook on Kazakhstan and Development Bank remains stable.

The ratings benefit from a view of the resiliency of the government's balance sheet after several bank failures and in terms of trade shock in 2008 and 2009, S&P said.

The government remains in a net fiscal creditor position of an estimated 19% of GDP. The likelihood that oil output doubles by 2020 and that structural net FDI inflows average 8% of GDP per year underpin the view that GDP growth will average more than 7% between 2011 and 2013, the agency said.

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