Abu Dhabi-Mubasher: Fitch Ratings affirmed Abu Dhabi's long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings (IDR) at 'AA', with “Stable” outlook, according to a recent statement on Wednesday.
Fitch maintained the issue ratings on Abu Dhabi's senior unsecured foreign currency bonds at 'AA' and the UAE country ceiling at 'AA+'; this ceiling applies to Abu Dhabi and Ras al Khaimah.
Sovereign net foreign assets were an estimated 222% of GDP at end-2015, and debt was 1.7 per cent, all of it external.
The ratings agency expected the general government deficit to decline to 11.6% of GDP in 2016 and 5.3% of GDP in 2017.
The debt of government-related and state-owned enterprises (GREs and SOEs) declined from AED 277 billion (30% of GDP) in 2012 to AED246 billion by H1-15, reflecting the authorities' commitment to containing indebtedness.
Fitch anticipated GRE and SOE debt to continue to fall.
The agency estimated that real GDP rose 5.4% in 2015 on the back of a 6.8% rise in oil production volumes.
Oil production is expected to rise 2% in 2016 and 2017, reflecting ADNOC's plans to raise capacity to 3.8 million barrels per day by 2018.
