London, 21 November 2011 -- Moody's Investors Service has today changed to negative from stable the
outlook on Armenia's Ba2 government foreign and local currency issuer
ratings.
Today's outlook change reflects:
(i) Risks to Armenia's growth outlook in the coming years given
the anticipated economic slowdown in Europe and Russia, its main
trading partners, and the impact of potentially weaker commodity
prices for the country's mining and metals industries.
(ii) Concerns about the deterioration of Armenia's debt metrics
and external position following the 2009 recession and its impact on the
country's shock-absorption capacity as it enters another
period of heightened economic uncertainty.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Moody's decision to change the outlook on Armenia's sovereign
ratings to negative is primarily driven by the country's ongoing
economic vulnerability to the weaker growth prospects in Europe and Russia,
which together account for 58% of Armenia's export market.
In particular, Armenia's reliance on exports to, as
well as remittances and foreign direct investment from, Russia poses
risks to its external position. In addition, potentially
lower commodity prices could further affect the Armenian economy as exports
are concentrated on mining, precious stones and metals (representing
73% of exports in 2010). Although Moody's currently
still expects moderate growth in the next two years, the rating
agency believes that the downside risks are significant given the weak
global economic growth outlook.
The second driver of the outlook change is the risk to Armenia's
shock-absorption capacity as the country enters another economically
challenging period with weakened debt metrics and a more vulnerable external
position. Moody's notes that the country is now faced with
a large current account deficit (estimated to be 11% GDP in 2011)
and a government external debt ratio that has doubled to 35% in
2011 from 14% of GDP in 2008. Its total debt burden in relation
of GDP is now 39% compared with 16% in 2008.
Despite the change in outlook, Moody's notes the government's
commitment to fiscal consolidation, as illustrated by the measures
contained in the draft 2012 budget law which are aimed at reducing the
general government deficit to 3.1% of GDP next year.
These measures are in addition to the government's efforts to enhance
the efficiency of tax collection. The impact of such measures however
will remain unclear for some time and the implementation risks to the
fiscal consolidation plan are significant, particularly given the
uncertainty surrounding Armenia's growth prospects. As discussed
above, the expecteed economic slowdown in Europe and Russia poses
risks to Armenia's growth outlook.
Concurrent with this action, we have revised to negative the outlook
on the Ba3 country ceiling for foreign-currency deposits.
At the same time, the country ceiling for local-currency
debt was downgraded to Baa1 from A3, bringing it in line with the
country ceiling for local-currency deposits, which was affirmed
at Baa1. The country ceiling for foreign-currency debt was
affirmed at Baa3 and its outlook remains stable.
WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATING UP/DOWN
Although unlikely in the short-to-medium term, Moody's
would consider changing the rating outlook on Armenia back to stable in
the event of a dissipation of the risks posed by the country's external
vulnerability to low growth prospects among its main trading partners.
Moody's would consider downgrading Armenia's sovereign ratings
in the event of (i) a failure to achieve its fiscal deficits reduction
plan; and/or (ii) a continued large current account deficit caused
by prolonged weakness in commodity prices and/or remittances; and/or
(iii) a decline in FDIs, thereby eroding the sustainability of the
country's external position.
METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in this rating was Sovereign Bond Ratings
published in September 2008. Please see the Credit Policy page
on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would
have affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
The rating has been disclosed to the rated entity or its designated agent(s)
and issued with no amendment resulting from that disclosure.
Information sources used to prepare the rating are the following :
parties involved in the ratings, parties not involved in the ratings,
and public information.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entity, obligation or credit satisfactory for the purposes of issuing
this review.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it
uses in assigning a rating is of sufficient quality and from sources Moody's
considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent
third-party sources. However, Moody's is not
an auditor and cannot in every instance independently verify or validate
information received in the rating process.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for general disclosure on potential conflicts of interests.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for information on (A) MCO's major shareholders (above 5%)
and for (B) further information regarding certain affiliations that may
exist between directors of MCO and rated entities as well as (C) the names
of entities that hold ratings from MIS that have also publicly reported
to the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%.
A member of the board of directors of this rated entity may also be a
member of the board of directors of a shareholder of Moody's Corporation;
however, Moody's has not independently verified this matter.
Please see Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions on the Rating
Process page on www.moodys.com for further information on
the meaning of each rating category and the definition of default and
recovery.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for the last rating action and the rating history. The date on
which some ratings were first released goes back to a time before Moody's
ratings were fully digitized and accurate data may not be available.
Consequently, Moody's provides a date that it believes is
the most reliable and accurate based on the information that is available
to it. Please see the ratings disclosure page on our website www.moodys.com
for further information.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has
issued the rating.
Lucie Villa
Analyst
Sovereign Risk Group
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
One Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5FA
United Kingdom
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Bart Oosterveld
MD - Sovereign Risk
Sovereign Risk Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
One Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London E14 5FA
United Kingdom
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Moody's changes Armenia's sovereign outlook to negative