S&P cuts Pakistan rating on economics, politics
LONDON (Reuters) - Ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut Pakistan's sovereign rating on Thursday, citing increasing pressure from expanding fiscal and external imbalances against a volatile political setting.
The agency cut Pakistan's long-term foreign currency debt rating to B from B+ and its long-term local currency rating to BB- from BB. The outlook is negative, S&P said.
"Following a year of turbulence accompanying Pakistan's transition to democratic rule, macroeconomic management and policy formulation remain significantly constrained by the precedence of political imperatives in the context of coalition and historical rivalry between the two main partners," said S&P credit analyst Agost Benard in a statement.
"The negative outlook reflects our assessment that the sovereign's vulnerabilities may accentuate further, given that the emergence of a stable, cohesive and effective physical environment needed to tackle mounting macroeconomic imbalances doesn't seem to be at hand."