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NEWS RELEASE Aug 02, 2021 R&I Affirms A+, Stable: Slovak Republic Rating and Investment Information, Inc. (R&I) has announced the following: ISSUER: Slovak Republic Foreign Currency Issuer Rating: A+, Affirmed Rating Outlook: Stable RATIONALE: Slovakia's economy contracted sharply due to the coronavirus pandemic, but will likely head for recovery in 2021. Although the fiscal balance deteriorated and the government debt ratio rose, debt levels have been contained. The government maintains its focus on fiscal consolidation. With small current account deficits, the country has a stable external position. In consideration of these factors, R&I has affirmed the Foreign Currency Issuer Rating at A+. Slovakia has solid economic fundamentals supported by a cluster of foreign automobile manufacturers. Since 2014, real gross domestic product (GDP) had grown more than 3% each year. In 2020, the pandemic and accompanying movement restrictions dealt a blow, causing real GDP to shrink 4.8%. Benefitting from a phased-in easing of restrictions and progress in vaccination, the economy will likely start to recover in 2021. The government expects real GDP to expand 4.6% in 2021 and 5.0% in 2022, and the European Commission provides similar projections. The government is run by a four-party coalition primarily comprised of the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO) party, which won an election with anti-corruption pledges. Continued conflict within the coalition resulted in the resignation of Prime Minister Igor Matovic in March 2021, and Finance Minister Eduard Heger became a new prime minister. The government formulated a recovery and resilience plan worth about 7% of GDP. The plan will be financed mostly through the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Facility. While the plan is expected to bolster economic growth and reduce a fiscal burden arising from population aging, political leadership is indispensable for its effective implementation. Eyes are on whether the coalition government led by Prime Minister Heger will be able to make concerted efforts to press ahead with the plan. Although the general government fiscal balance had been in a deficit of 1-2% of GDP until 2019, the pandemic-induced fiscal spending and lower tax revenue pushed up the deficit to 6.2% of GDP in 2020. The government projects that the fiscal deficit will be 9.9% of GDP in 2021, mainly reflecting its enhanced economic measures. Given strong tax revenue, however, the deficit will highly likely be lower than the projection. Maintaining expansionary policies will not affect the sovereign creditworthiness adversely, in R&I's view, because the economy is yet to regain momentum and uncertainty about the pandemic lingers. According to the government, the fiscal deficit will narrow to 5.1% of GDP in 2022 due to a discontinuation of support measures. The government intends to reduce fiscal deficits at a moderate pace by working on fiscal consolidation from 2023 onward. Outstanding general government debt, which decreased to 48.2% of GDP in 2019, will hover around 65% of GDP after reaching 64.1% of GDP in 2021, according to the trajectory displayed by the government. Slovakia's debt burden is low compared to other eurozone countries, and its funding environment is stable on the back of the European Central Bank's accommodative monetary policy. The government has high debt tolerance, as its interest payment burden is small with the majority of debts denominated in the euro. The primary rating methodology applied to this rating is provided at "R&I's Analytical Approach to Sovereigns". The methodology is available at the web site listed below, together with other rating methodologies that are taken into consideration when assigning the rating. https://www.r-i.co.jp/en/rating/about/rating_method.html ■Contact : Sales and Marketing Division, Customer Service Dept. TEL.+81-(0)3-6273-7471 E-mail. [email protected] ■Media Contact : Corporate Planning Division (Public Relations) TEL.+81-(0)3-6273-7273 Rating and Investment Information, Inc. TERRACE SQUARE, 3-22 Kanda Nishikicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0054, Japan https://www.r-i.co.jp Credit ratings are R&I's opinions on an issuer's general capacity to fulfill its financial obligations and the certainty of the fulfillment of its individual obligations as promised (creditworthiness) and are not statements of fact. Further, R&I does not state its opinions about any risks other than credit risk, give advice regarding investment decisions or financial matters, or endorse the merits of any investment. R&I does not undertake any independent verification of the accuracy or other aspects of the related information when issuing a credit rating and makes no related representations or warranties. R&I is not liable in any way for any damage arising in relation to credit ratings (including amendment or withdrawal thereof). As a general rule, R&I issues a credit rating for a fee paid by the issuer. For details, please refer to https://www.r-i.co.jp/en/docs/policy/site.html. © Rating and Investment Information, Inc. NEWS RELEASE R&I RATINGS: ISSUER: Slovak Republic Foreign Currency Issuer Rating RATING: A+, Affirmed RATING OUTLOOK: Stable ■Contact : Sales and Marketing Division, Customer Service Dept. TEL.+81-(0)3-6273-7471 E-mail. [email protected] ■Media Contact : Corporate Planning Division (Public Relations) TEL.+81-(0)3-6273-7273 Rating and Investment Information, Inc. TERRACE SQUARE, 3-22 Kanda Nishikicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0054, Japan https://www.r-i.co.jp Credit ratings are R&I's opinions on an issuer's general capacity to fulfill its financial obligations and the certainty of the fulfillment of its individual obligations as promised (creditworthiness) and are not statements of fact. Further, R&I does not state its opinions about any risks other than credit risk, give advice regarding investment decisions or financial matters, or endorse the merits of any investment. R&I does not undertake any independent verification of the accuracy or other aspects of the related information when issuing a credit rating and makes no related representations or warranties. R&I is not liable in any way for any damage arising in relation to credit ratings (including amendment or withdrawal thereof). As a general rule, R&I issues a credit rating for a fee paid by the issuer. For details, please refer to https://www.r-i.co.jp/en/docs/policy/site.html. © Rating and Investment Information, Inc..