Standard & Poor's Ratings Services affirmed Bahrain’s long and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings at BBB- and A-3 respectively.
The rating agency has also affirmed long- and short-term foreign and local currency issuer credit ratings for the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) at BBB- and A-3 respectively.
S&P gave a ‘Negative’ outlook for both Bahrain and CBB.
“However, the exact fiscal savings resulting from these consolidation measures remain to be seen, although they could be as much as 2.5% of GDP in 2016. We also expect revenue collection to be boosted by higher-than-expected real GDP growth in non-oil sectors over the first half of 2015, although we note that quarterly growth statistics have been volatile. Over the medium term, we believe that Bahrain's public finances will benefit from nascent plans to introduce value-added tax and raise excise taxes, although we have not yet factored these measures into our forecasts,” according to a statement issued by S&P.
