Africa-Press-Ethiopia<\/p>\n
(Reuters) – S&P Global Ratings on Friday downgraded Ethiopia\u2019s long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings to \u2018B-\u2019 from \u2018B\u2019 on potential debt restructuring, announcing the move days after Fitch Ratings downgraded the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cExacerbated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ethiopia\u2019s structurally weak external balance sheet has deteriorated further, in our view\u201d, S&P Global Ratings said.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Ethiopia\u2019s sovereign dollar bonds dropped nearly 2 cents as Fitch chopped Ethiopia\u2019s credit score by two notches after Addis Ababa signaled it could be the first with an international government bond to use a new G20 \u2018Common Framework\u2019 plan.<\/p>\n
The scheme, which is open to over 70 of the world\u2019s poorest countries, encourages their governments to defer or negotiate down their external debt as part of a wider debt relief program.<\/p>\n
S&P said it estimated Ethiopia\u2019s public debt repayment needs at about $5.5 billion over 2021-2024, including a $1 billion Eurobond due in 2024.<\/p>\n
The ratings agency added that the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have slowed Ethiopia\u2019s economic activity in the services and industry sectors, including retail trade, hospitality, transportation, and construction.<\/p>\n
S&P described the Tigray conflict in November 2020 that followed increased tensions between the federal and local authorities as \u201cthe most significant (conflict) since Prime Minister Abby Ahmed took office in 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother outbreak of armed conflict could spur wider ethnic tensions, weakening Ethiopia\u2019s political and institutional framework and threatening the government\u2019s transformative reform agenda\u201d, it added.<\/p>\n
Africa-Press-Ethiopia (Reuters) – S&P Global Ratings on Friday downgraded Ethiopia\u2019s long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings to \u2018B-\u2019 from \u2018B\u2019 on potential debt restructuring, announcing the move days after Fitch Ratings downgraded the country. \u201cExacerbated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ethiopia\u2019s structurally weak external balance sheet has deteriorated further, in our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[241,257],"class_list":["post-2759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press-ethiopia","tag-covid-19-in-ethiopia"],"yoast_head":"\n