Dubai: Standard and Poor’s said it has affirmed its ‘B-’ long-term and ‘B’ short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Iraq with a stable outlook.
The stable outlook reflects the ratings agency’s expectation that Iraq’s large fiscal and external deficits can be financed, and that its conflict with Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) will be contained, the ratings agency said in a statement.
It also incorporates their forecast of an increase in Iraqi oil production and oil exports to 4.4 million barrels per day (bpd) and 3.6 million bpd, respectively, by 2019, while the IMF programme leads to gradual fiscal consolidation.
However, the rating is constrained by the war in the country Iraq has the world’s fifth-largest proven crude oil reserves and is the second-largest oil exporter in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec).
Oil dominates the Iraqi economy, contributing over 60 per cent of GDP, 90 per cent of government revenues and more than 95 per cent of exports.
