Fitch Ratings Ltd yesterday affirmed Taiwan’s sovereign credit rating of “A+” for the third year in a row. The “A+” rating is the company’s fifth-highest grade.
The London-based international ratings agency maintained its “A+” and “AA-” long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings respectively for Taiwan with a stable outlook, the agency said in an e-mailed statement.
Fitch’s latest assessment of Taiwan’s ratings came after Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Ratings Services in May affirmed Taiwan’s sovereign credit rating of “AA-,” its fourth-highest grade.
In October last year, Moody’s Investors Service retained its “Aa3” foreign and local currency sovereign rating for Taiwan, which is the fourth-highest investment grade under Moody’s scale.
“External finances are Taiwan’s key rating strength, providing a robust buffer against external shocks,” Fitch said yesterday, citing the company’s view of the nation’s net external asset holdings, strong foreign exchange reserves and a healthy current-account surplus.
Taiwan’s public finances also pose no risk to the nation’s credit profile compared with its peers, Fitch said, adding that Taiwan’s gross general government debt and deficit to GDP ratios are in line with the median of all other countries under “A” status at 49.8 percent and 1.9 percent respectively.
However, the company said that the Taiwanese economy had so far failed to return to the growth rate of about 4 percent from before the global financial crisis in 2008, reflecting the volatility in export performance.
"GDP is more volatile than the rating median, as the very open economy is heavily exposed to exogenous demand shocks,” Fitch said.
The government in May forecast the economy would grow by 2.98 percent this year from last year.
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