Fitch downgrades Azerbaijan

Fitch Ratings said it downgraded Azerbaijan's long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings to BB+ from BBB-.

The outlooks are negative.

The issue rating on Azerbaijan's senior unsecured foreign currency bond was also downgraded to BB+ from BBB-. The country ceiling was revised to BB+ from BBB- and the short-term foreign-currency issuer default rating was downgraded to B from F3.

Low oil prices have caused a significant deterioration in the fiscal position, Fitch said. The consolidated general government budget deficit was 5.3% of GDP in 2015 and Fitch expects deficits of 12.5% of GDP in 2016 and 7.5% of GDP in 2017. Receipts from oil and gas, which averaged more than 50% of consolidated budget revenues over the past five years, fell by an estimated 40% in 2015 and Fitch expects them to drop by a further 30% in 2016. At an oil price of USD 25/b, the revised draft 2016 budget projects a consolidated deficit of 15% of GDP.

© 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.