ASTANA – Fitch Ratings affirmed Kazakhstan’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘BBB’ with a stable outlook, the agency’s press service reported on May 26.
Photo credit: Khabar 24.
According to the statement, the key factors retaining the country’s IDRs are strong fiscal and external balance sheets that have been resilient to external shocks, and financing flexibility based on accumulation of oil revenues.
“Kazakhstan’s low public debt levels and large asset buffers that support strong fiscal financing flexibility are important sovereign credit strengths,” reads the release.
Fitch expects current account surpluses through to 2024, following a 3.4% increase in GDP in 2022, the highest figure recorded in eleven years. This should help bolster Kazakhstan’s solid external balance sheet.
The agency projected the country’s economic growth at 4.5% in 2023 and 4.8% in 2024, with an increase in oil export volumes by over a third following the start of operations at the expanded Tengiz oilfield.
