Romania's application for improved sovereign ratings has the support of investors and analysts from London to Los Angeles, motivated by the fiscal developments and the country’s agreement with the IMF, Bloomberg reports.
Romania is trying to lose the "junk" country rating (not recommended to investors) labeled by Standard & Poor's (S & P), a level kept by the rating agency from 2008.
The fiscal developments and the support represented by the IMF agreement warrant higher rating, according to the head of Templeton Emerging Markets, Mark Mobius, as well as to investors and analysts at TCW Group, Nomura Holdings and Capital Economics.
“I definitely think that it is time for a positive review. I do like its assets (in Romania,) for a while now and I think it is on an improvement trend, " Blaise Antin said, from the American investment fund TCW, where he participates in the management of assets worth 10.5 billion dollars in emerging markets.
Moody's is the only one among the major credit rating agencies who maintained Romania in the category of countries with a rating suitable for investment during the financial crisis. Currently, Romania has a"Baa3" grade, the last one in the recommended investors category, with a negative outlook. Fitch gives Romania a "BBB-", one step above the "junk" level with a stable outlook, while S & P assesses Romania to 'BB +', the highest level of "junk" with a stable outlook.
Ratings changes are not always followed by investors, Bloomberg notes. The borrowing costs of France and the United States decreased immediately after losing the maximum possible rating of "AAA", a signal indicating that the agents reviews may have little impact on the borrowing costs.
Economy Minister Varujan Vosganian said Tuesday that Romania deserves better sovereign rating.