The Bahamas ranked 2nd in the Latin Amercian/Caribbean region, and 39th globally, in the latest Country Credit Scorecard published by the Institutional Investor as a result of its country creditworthiness survey. The survey shows that sovereign risk has improved over the past six months.

Sovereign-risk analysts, economists and portfolio managers participated in the survey, rating some 173 countries based on economic, financial and political indicators.

Institutional Investor reports that the market experts participating in the survey showed increased optimism despite some global distress factors – e.g. renewed act of terrorism, higher oil prices, etc.

The Process

The country-by-country credit ratings developed by Institutional Investor are based on information provided by senior economists and sovereign-risk analysts at leading global banks and money management and securities firms. They grade each country on a scale of zero to 100. The participants were also asked to rank ten political, economic and financial indicators in order of their importance for each region as well as selected countries

Standard & Poor’s has assigned an ‘A-’ long–term and ‘A-2’ short-term Sovereign Credit Rating to The Bahamas reflecting the country’s political stability, stable economy and steady macroeconomic stance.

The Bahamas also enjoys an ‘A-3’ Investment Grade rating on its sovereign debt from Moody’s Investor Services.

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