(Reuters) -Moody’s on Thursday hiked its rating for the government of Argentina’s long-term foreign currency and local currency issuer ratings to “Caa1” from “Caa3”, up two notches though it remains in so-called junk, or non-investment grade, territory.
The ratings agency also changed its outlook to stable from positive.
“The upgrade reflects our view that the extensive liberalization of exchange and (to a lesser extent) capital controls, alongside a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, support the availability of hard currency liquidity and ease pressure on external finances,” Moody’s said in a statement. “This reduces the likelihood of a credit event.”
The outlook, it added, balances positive developments against continued credit challenges and a so far limited structural rebalancing of the external accounts, as well as less favorable trade terms that could narrow the trade surplus.
Moody’s had taken the rating up to “Caa3” in January of this year, its first upgrade for South America’s No. 2 economy in more than five years, after a 2020 downgrade over disrupted debt restructuring talks as the global pandemic increased its risk of slipping into default.
(Reporting by Andre Romani and Sarah Morland; Editing by Natalia Siniawski and Brendan O’Boyle)
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