STANDARD & POOR’S RATING AGENCY ASSIGNS FBIH SHORT AND LONG-TERM CREDIT RATING B+/B WITH STABLE OUTLOOK FOR FIRST TIME

SARAJEVO, JUNE 3 (ONASA) – For the first time, the rating agency Standard & Poor’s awarded the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina a short- and long-term credit rating of B+/B with a stable outlook.
“The stable outlook indicates that despite political challenges, the economic recovery will increase fiscal revenues and reduce inflationary pressures, enabling the FBiH to maintain liquidity, achieve projected surpluses and reduce debt, including the debt of public enterprises,” S&P Global Ratings said in a statement.
They add that political conflicts within entities and the state are an obstacle to economic growth, and that disagreements are the reason for blocking reform, or slowing down changes.
S&P state that the FBiH economy is relatively poor compared to Eastern European countries and that it faces significant demographic challenges.
One of the biggest problems is the departure of the workforce to other countries.
Regardless, they expect GDP growth to accelerate to two to three percent per year by 2026, mostly in line with the national trend in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
They also forecast that inflation will fall below three percent in 2025.
Federal Minister of Development, Entrepreneurship and Crafts Vojin Mijatović commented that FBiH received a credit rating from Standard & Poor’s.
“Despite the brutal campaign of lies about debt and the bad economic situation, which we have been witnessing for months from the opposition, another proof that the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is led by this Government, the only factor of economic and political stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The economic ‘experts’ and ‘magicians’ of the previous government they never even dared to make a credit rating of the FBiH,” said Mijatović. (end)