Azerbaijan's sovereign ratings upgraded by Moody's

2011-03-09 17:19:35

TBILISI, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Moody's, one of the three leading international rating agencies, has upgraded Azerbaijan's sovereign ratings, from stable to positive.

The upgraded ratings included the South Caucasus country's foreign and local currency debt ceilings and its foreign and local currency deposit ceilings, according to reports reaching here on Wednesday.

The upgrades were made as a result of Azerbaijan's significant improvement in its fiscal and external positions and the government's efforts to invest in developments of non-oil sectors of the country.

According to the latest available data, the government of Azerbaijan last year registered a fiscal surplus of 14 percent of the country's gross domestic product in consolidated budget and the country's current account surplus was 30 percent of GDP in 2010.

Most of the surpluses were posted by the country's State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) whose assets grew by 8 billion U.S. dollars to 23 billion dollars between the end of 2009 and the end of last year.

The central bank of Azerbaijan now has a foreign currency reserve of 7 billion dollars after it had acquired 1.6 billion dollars last year.
Editor: Yang Lina