Moody’s Investors issues SL a B1 positive rating

Moody's Investors March Report on Sri Lanka has about US $ 3.0 billion in treasury bills and stocks. Moody's have also said in a positive note that the External Vulnerability Indicator (EVI) which measures the adequacy in foreign reserves to cover debts maturing over the next year, is at 124 in 2013 and is a value that could be regarded as high.

Moody's Investors has also assigned Sri Lanka a B1 positive rating which marks that the country had gone through a significant amount of progress. While the report has been titled as “Sri Lanka – The post IMF backdrop: downward growth pressures and elevated external pressures” expanded that the economy in Sri Lanka is to face slower growth and is expected to have an elevated external pressure on the year ahead.

The report also emphasized on important factors that will shape the credit outlook in the way forward, especially in growth trends, macro stability , external payment position and the progress on fiscal consolidation.

According to the Moody's report, the key to open the doorway for the way forward is by reducing deficit.

The report also showed a few areas that the government needed to look into in the way forward. Supplier cash arrears, weak structural revenue reform and contingent liabilities in state-owned enterprises are concerns.

High inflation and rapid credit growth are risks to macroeconomic stability, the report stated.

V.W