PM Adviser determines the approved standards for the Iraqi credit rating

Baghdad-INA
The financial advisor to the Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, confirmed on Monday, that Iraq has maintained a stable credit rating during the last eight years, indicating that Iraq has a rating that includes countries, the majority of which are emerging economies.
 
Salih told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): "The credit rating of Iraq has been adopted since 2015 in our country, which led to a reduction in the cost of external borrowing by 50%, when Iraq issued the European bond called (Euphrates), which Iraq borrowed at the time from the international capital market about $1 billion, currently traded on European secondary markets.”

Salih pointed out, "There is a (Tigris) bond guaranteed by the United States government in the amount of one billion dollars as well, as well as a European bond for Iraq under the name (Iraq / 2028), which is related to the settlement of foreign private sector debts according to the settlement of the Paris Club agreement, with an issue amount of about $ 2.7 billion.”
 
He explained, "The credit rating of Iraq depends in general, and for the aforementioned bonds, on important macroeconomic criteria, mainly to achieve what is called (the creditworthiness of Iraq) and the ability of the economy to pay its debt services and external obligations without significant failure."

He added, "The economic capabilities are determined by the two issues of deficit or surplus in the current account of the balance of payments and the deficit or surplus in the general budget at the very least, in addition to the role of foreign reserves and their efficiency as an indicator in covering outstanding debts and their short-term services."
 
 Salih stressed, "Iraq has maintained, over the past eight years, a stable credit rating, whose indicators are issued by more than one of the international credit rating agencies, such as (Clubl Fitch) and others, on a semi-annual basis, which indicates the great capabilities of Iraq to fulfill its external obligations towards creditors and others around the world.”
 
He pointed out, "The classification that Iraq enjoys today, which is in the B-level range, places Iraq among an important international group of no less than 60 countries in the world, most of which are emerging market countries and emerging economies."