Moody's Completes Periodic Review of Jamaica’s Credit Profile

• The credit profile of Jamaica (issuer rating B3) is supported by the country's "Low (+)" economic strength and reflects its relatively small size and low-income levels, along with very weak growth as well as limited economic diversification.
• The profile also considers Jamaica’s "Moderate (-)" institutional strength, which balances the government's track record of debt restructuring against its strong governance indicators and improving policy framework and policy credibility.
• Jamaica also has "Very Low (-)" fiscal strength, taking into account the government's very high debt burden and weak debt affordability, as well as the high share of foreign-currency debt which leaves the debt vulnerable to exchange rate fluctuations.
• Finally, Moody’s considers the Country’s "Low (+)" susceptibility to event risk, reflecting government liquidity risk, taking into account a high share of external debt in the government debt stock against declining gross financing needs.

 

(Source: Moody’s)