Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised on Friday the global update of S&P to the sovereign credit rating of the country A ‘B-‘ of ‘CCC+’ and promised to achieve sustainable economic growth.
A day earlier, the Global S&P grades agency had raised the sovereign credit rating of Pakistan a ‘B-‘ of ‘CCC+’ and placed it in a ‘stable’ perspective, saying that the country’s finances and reserves had been stabilized by the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“The S&P update of Pakistan’s credit rating of CCC+ A B-, with a stable perspective, is a welcome development,” said Prime Minister Shehbaz in a publication about X.
“It reflects a growing confidence in our economic reforms and the macroeconomic stability that we have been able to achieve,” he added.
He continued that his administration remained committed to maintaining the impulse of the reform, promoting transparency and deepening the confidence of investors, “so that the first signs of recovery translate into a lasting prosperity for our people and translate into sustainable economic growth.”
In his statement, S&P had said: “The stable perspective reflects our expectations that continuous economic recovery and government efforts to improve income will stabilize fiscal and debt metrics.
“We also hope that the sustained official financing supports Pakistan to fulfill its external obligations, and that the country will continue to pass through its commercial credit lines during the next 12 months.”
International bonds of the longest date of Pakistan recovered after the update, with the expiration of 2051 winning 1.6 cents to offer 84.85 cents per dollar, according to Tradeweb data.
Last week, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurengzeb, urged the United States qualification leader, Moody’s, to improve Pakistan’s credit qualification and help his return to international capital markets in favorable conditions.
Moody’s had improved Pakistan’s credit rating in a notch in August 2024 to Caa2 from CAA3 (degraded in February 2023 due to the suspension of the IMF program) and changed its positive to stable perspective to improve macroeconomic conditions, including liquidity and external position of very weak levels.
The Fitch global grades agency had improved the Crediting Credit Qualification of Pakistan’s foreign currencies to ‘B-‘ from ‘CCC+’ in April, citing greater confidence in the country’s progress in reducing its budget deficits.
