S&P's Highest Ever Rating Boosts Economic Prospects!

• Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says that upgrading Jamaica’s credit rating by Standard and Poor’s will facilitate access to financing on better terms.
• Standard and Poor’s (S&P) Global Ratings, on September 13, upgraded the Government of Jamaica’s Long-Term Foreign and Local Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) from B+ to BB-, with a ‘Stable’ outlook. It is the best global grading Jamaica has received from S&P since the entity started rating the country’s sovereign debt in 1999.
• The Minister was speaking during the opening ceremony for the Jamaica Institution of Engineers’ observance of Engineers’ Week, at The Summit in New Kingston on Monday (September 18).
• Minister Clarke highlighted the country has the opportunity to access financing at costs lower than before. This is because a higher credit rating means that a country is more creditworthy, which ultimately means that an investor will require lower interest terms to lend.
• Additionally, if less is paid for the money you need for financing, it expands fiscal capacity, so more can be spent on health, infrastructure and security.
• The Finance Minister also noted that the higher the credit rating, the more favourable the investment climate is deemed to be. This is because investments are less risky. The rating is linked to the riskiness or the perceived riskiness of an economy. The higher the credit rating is the more open the economy will be to foreign investment. More foreign investment means more economic activity and more economic activity means more jobs for Jamaicans. As a result, the higher credit rating provides an environment that supports the creation of more jobs for the Jamaican people and an accompanying better investment climate.

(Source: JIS News)