S&P affirms Slovenia’s AA- rating

Ljubljana – Rating agency Standard & Poor’s affirmed on Friday Slovenia’s AA- rating with a stable outlook. The step acknowledges that Slovenia “remains a stable country in the long run despite the difficult situation due to Covid-19”, the Finance Ministry said on Saturday.

The agency argues in its latest rating that Slovenia consolidated its fiscal and foreign trade positions through balanced economic growth in the past years which will enable the country to overcome the coronavirus crisis.

Lauding the government anti-coronavirus measures, Standard & Poor’s says that they would prevent long-term economic ramifications, the ministry said.

The low cost of public debt, a result of both European Central Bank monetary policy and negative interest rates on 10-year government bonds, mitigates current fiscal shocks, the ministry added.

The agency’s decision to affirm the rating stems from a number of factors, including high GDP per capita, Slovenia’s membership in the monetary union, current account surplus, the country’s stable institutional framework and public debt stabilisation efforts, the ministry said, adding that public debt was expected to start declining again after 2022.

Most rating agencies maintained their ratings for Slovenia this year. In early October, Moody’s upgraded Slovenia’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured bond ratings by one notch to A3, changing the outlook to stable.

Slovenia remains a trust-worthy country in the eyes of foreign investors, the ministry said.

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