Despite the unprecedented impact of Hurricane Dorian and the resulting economic fallout, The Bahamas maintained its credit rating in the latest report by S&P Global Rating. Although there was an anticipated revision to the outlook from stable to negative, the country’s BB+ sovereign credit rating was affirmed.

“The assessment by S&P is not surprising given the conscientious adjustments we made to our original spending and borrowing plans so as to recover from the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Dorian. Although these deviations from our fiscal plan will not be permanent, we anticipated they would affect our outlook.”

“We are pleased to see that the Government’s various fiscal reform efforts were acknowledged and commended in the report, as they have contributed to the country’s strengthening fiscal institutions and our capacity to deal with substantial external shocks,” said K Peter Turnquest, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.  “It is no small accomplishment to weather damages equivalent to one quarter of your annual economic output and still maintain your credit rating.”

“Notably, even though the report foreshadows potential economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, S&P still expressed confidence in the checks and balances put in place to prevent further erosion of our creditworthiness. These included the Government’s demonstrable increase in fiscal transparency and reporting and the focus and progress on institutional reform,” said Minister Turnquest.