Singapore, May 18, 2015 -- Moody's Investors Service has today affirmed Papua New Guinea's B1 foreign
currency (FC) and local currency (LC) issuer ratings and changed the rating
outlook to negative from stable.
Key drivers for today's decision are:
• Fiscal deterioration resulting primarily from a step-up
in spending since 2012
• A weakened external payments position and increased external vulnerability
In a related action, Papua New Guinea's FC bond ceiling was
lowered to Ba3 from Ba2, while its FC deposit ceiling remains unchanged
at B2. The short-term FC ceilings also remain unchanged
at Not Prime. These ceilings act as a cap on ratings that can be
assigned to the FC obligations of entities other than the government that
are domiciled in the country.
Papua New Guinea's LC country risk ceilings were lowered to Ba2 from Ba1.
RATINGS RATIONALE
RATIONALE FOR THE NEGATIVE RATING OUTLOOK
First driver: Fiscal deterioration
Since 2012, fiscal deficits have widened significantly as the government
embarked on an ambitious development program. After running balanced
and near-balanced budgets in every year between 2004 and 2011 as
a result of high commodity prices and fiscal discipline, the government
abruptly reversed course ahead of the expected windfall from the completion
of the PNG LNG Project (unrated). Consequently, we estimate
that government debt rose to 37.7% of GDP in 2014,
breaching the adjusted ceiling of 35% of GDP as prescribed by the
Fiscal Responsibility Act.
Government revenue will fall short of the medium-term projections
in the 2015 budget due to the impact of lower prices for petroleum,
natural gas, and other commodities on royalties, dividends,
and the profitability of associated companies. However, the
government has not formulated a policy response that would realign expenditures
to conform to the planned glide path to a balanced budget by 2017.
Second driver: A weakened external payments position and increased
external vulnerability
Papua New Guinea has experienced a halving of its foreign currency reserves
over the past two years. As the construction phase of the PNG LNG
Project wound down and commodity prices fell, the Papua New Guinean
kina depreciated as demand for foreign currency outstripped supply.
The central bank, the Bank of Papua New Guinea, has intervened
heavily in the foreign exchange market, notably by imposing a trading
band around the official rate, exacerbating the loss of hard currency
reserves. Nevertheless, the kina has continued to depreciate,
leading to a mechanical deterioration in the government's debt ratios.
We estimate that the stock of short-term external debt by residual
maturity--incorporating both private and public sector debt--now
surpasses the level of foreign currency reserves.
RATIONALE FOR THE RATING AFFIRMATION AT B1
Despite lower prices for Papua New Guinea's commodity exports,
relatively rapid economic growth is likely to be sustained as the country
continues to ramp up production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) following
the commencement of export shipments in mid-2014. However,
the windfalls for fiscal and external balances are likely to be smaller
than originally projected on account of lower oil prices over the medium-term,
which in turn are correlated to LNG prices with a lag.
Nevertheless, the successful operationalization of the PNG LNG Project—whose
construction phase has driven a doubling of nominal GDP in the past five
years—bolsters the prospects for further monetization of Papua New
Guinea's rich natural resource base and robust economic growth regardless
of commodity price developments.
Although Papua New Guinea's fiscal ratios have deteriorated over
the past few years, fiscal deficits continue to be in line with
similarly-rated peers. At the same time, the past
decade of debt consolidation has left Papua New Guinea with one of the
lowest debt burdens among B1-rated countries. In addition,
the government's reliance on local sources of financing renders
it somewhat insulated from external financial shocks.
WHAT COULD MOVE THE RATING UP/DOWN
Given the negative outlook an upward movement in the rating is highly
unlikely. However, containment of government fiscal deficits
and debt levels, as well as in improvement in reserve adequacy could
stabilize the outlook.
Triggers for a further negative rating action include: (1) a continued
fiscal deterioration leading to a further rise in government debt;
(2) a loss of investor confidence and a resultant rapid rise in interest
rates and a worsening of debt affordability; (3) a further decline
in official international reserves.
GDP per capita (PPP basis, US$): 2,399 (2014
Actual) (also known as Per Capita Income)
Real GDP growth (% change): 8.4% (2014 Estimate)
(also known as GDP Growth)
Inflation Rate (CPI, % change Dec/Dec): 6.6%
(2014 Actual)
Gen. Gov. Financial Balance/GDP: -7.3%
(2014 Actual) (also known as Fiscal Balance)
Current Account Balance/GDP: -22.6% (2013 Actual)
(also known as External Balance)
External debt/GDP: 148.5% (2013 Actual)
Level of economic development: Low level of economic resilience
Default history: No default events (on bonds or loans) have been
recorded since 1983.
On 13 May 2015, a rating committee was called to discuss the rating
of "Papua New Guinea, Government of." The main points raised
during the discussion were: The issuer's fiscal or financial strength,
including its debt profile, has materially decreased. The
issuer has become increasingly susceptible to event risks.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Sovereign Bond Ratings
published in September 2013. Please see the Credit Policy page
on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
The weighting of all rating factors is described in the methodology used
in this rating action, if applicable.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides certain 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 certain 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 certain 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.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this rating action, and
whose ratings may change as a result of this rating action, the
associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
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.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Christian de Guzman
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Sovereign Risk Group
Moody's Investors Service Singapore Pte. Ltd.
50 Raffles Place #23-06
Singapore Land Tower
Singapore 48623
Singapore
JOURNALISTS: (852) 3758 -1350
SUBSCRIBERS: (852) 3551-3077
Anne B Van Praagh
MD - Sovereign Risk
Sovereign Risk Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service Singapore Pte. Ltd.
50 Raffles Place #23-06
Singapore Land Tower
Singapore 48623
Singapore
JOURNALISTS: (852) 3758 -1350
SUBSCRIBERS: (852) 3551-3077
Moody's affirms PNG's B1 rating, changes outlook to negative