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Southeast Europe
March 9, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 13
Moody’s cuts Turkey further into junk by lowering rating to ‘Ba2’
bne IntelliNews
Turkey’s credit rating was cut further into junk by Moody’s Investors Service on March 7 with the ratings agency citing an erosion of institutional strength and added risk of external shocks.
Moody’s lowered the rating on the Turkish government’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to two levels below investment grade, taking it to ‘Ba2’ from ‘Ba1’. The rating on the senior unsecured shelf rating was reduced to ‘(P)Ba2’ from ‘(P)Ba1’. The rating outlook was changed to stable from negative.
Kristin Lindow, a Moody’s analyst, said the Turkish government seems focused on short- term measures, undermining effective monetary policy and economic reform. That’s become a concern to an increasing number of analysts
in recent months, who ask how much longer Turkey can maintain economic stability in these circumstances. Persistent double-digit inflation and political factors, such as the prolonged state of emergency still in effect after its introduction following the attempted coup in July 2016, have weighed down on the country, Lindow wrote. Debt and rollover needs have worsened, she added.
"The potential triggers of a re-evaluation of Turkish country risk by foreign investors continue to multiply with the continuing deterioration of Turkey’s geopolitical situation," Lindow wrote. "Turkey’s sovereign rating would likely be downgraded if there is a material increase in the probability and proximity of a balance of payments crisis."
Turkey's financial centres should be wary that the potential triggers of a re-evaluation of Turkish country risk by foreign investors continue to multiply, says Moody's.
Moody’s also downgraded the long-term senior unsecured debt of a Turkish special purpose vehicle used to to issue sukuk lease certificates, Hazine Mustesarligi Varlik Kiralama.
The downgrade to two notches below investment grade puts Turkey on par with Brazil, Croatia and Costa Rica.
After the downgrade issued late on March 7, the Turkish lira (TRY) fell by 0.4% to 3.8093 per US dollar. On March 8, at around 10:30 a.m. Istanbul time, it was trading at 3.8162.
Moody's cut Turkey's credit rating to junk status in 2016. It cut its outlook to negative from stable in March last year. The outlook was changed to stable in the latest downgrade.
‘Explicit tolerance of high inflation’
Further detailing its latest downgrade, Lindow wrote: “Faltering institutional strength is reflected in a broad range of adverse outcomes on the economic, financial and political front despite strong near-term growth rates and healthy public finances. Inflation has stayed stubbornly in the double digits—the highest inflation rates seen in nine years. It is unlikely to fall to single digits on
a sustained basis until 2020 at the earliest. Both the 2018-20 Medium Term Program as well as the 11th 5-year National Development Plan, which will start next year, assume average inflation consistently above the central bank's medium- term inflation target of 5%. The explicit tolerance of high inflation in these plans demonstrates the