Bahamas Downgraded by Moody's

• The scale of the economic and fiscal challenges facing the new Philip Davis-led administration were laid bare Friday, after Moody’s further downgraded The Bahamas’ sovereign creditworthiness. 
• The credit rating agency, in reducing the country’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings to ‘Ba3’ from ‘Ba2’, warned that the devastation inflicted by COVID-19 and Hurricane Dorian will have “lasting consequences” for the Bahamian economy with stopover arrivals only returning to pre-pandemic numbers in 2024. 
• This latest action plunges The Bahamas further into non-investment grade or ‘junk’ status, with Moody’s adding that the country’s $10.356Bn national debt is now more than six times’ bigger than the Government’s annual income or revenue base. 
• The consequences of the latest downgrade include a further potential increase in the Government’s borrowing costs when it goes out to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in more debt financing later this year.

(Source: Moody’s Investor Service & The Tribune)