(Barbados Nation) Standard & Poor’s has lowered its long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Barbados to CCC+ from B-.
The rating agency also lowered its short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings to C from B.
In announcing the revision this evening, S&P said “government’s increased reliance on central bank financing of the still-high government deficit and the fall in international reserves reflect heightened challenges for policy implementation, the sustainability of the peg to the US dollar, and underpin expected weaker growth prospects in Barbados”.
S&P said its negative outlook reflected its view that “the government’s ability or willingness to take timely steps to redress deficit and financing pressures and bolster international reserves will likely deteriorate further”.