Fitch changes rating definitions and identifier for Sri Lanka

RATINGS: Fitch Ratings announced changes to its ratings definitions and identifier for Sri Lankan national ratings. The initiative is an effort to align the national ratings definitions used in Sri Lanka with those used by the agency globally.

National ratings are designed for use mainly by local investors in local markets.

The national rating scale provides a relative measure of creditworthiness for rated entities in the country. The best risk within a country is rated 'AAA' and other credits are rated only relative to this risk.

The changes made are in keeping with Fitch's global definitions. As the rating categories have been maintained (Highest Credit Quality/ High Credit Quality/ Adequate Credit Quality etc.), these remain consistent with existing practices in Sri Lanka.

At the same time, Fitch is revising the rating identifier for national ratings issued in Sri Lanka to 'lka' from the earlier used suffix of 'sri'.

This is to fall in line with Fitch's policy of using internationally recognised identifiers, in this case the ISO country codes, which is 'LKA' for Sri Lanka.

The new ratings definitions and the change to national rating identifiers will not by themselves affect any of the existing ratings nor will they bring about a change in Fitch's rating methodology.