Zambia has obtained a credit rating from Fitch Ratings as it plans to sell its first dollar-denominated bonds this year.
zambia was rated B+ by Fitch, its fourth-highest non-investment grade rating, with a “stable” outlook, the company said in a statement today.
Fitch’s sovereign group director Veronica Kalema, said in the statement that the rating reflects “the marked improvement in Zambia’s economic performance since 2003, driven by improved macroeconomic stability, economic liberalization, rising private investment and production in the mining sector, and more recently, a strong agricultural performance.
Fitch said the nation’s economy expanded about 7.1 percent in 2010 from 6.4 percent in 2009, driven by increased mining output, transport, communication, construction and agriculture, and according the Central Statistics Office said in December that Zambia’s gross domestic product growth after inflation has averaged 6.3 percent since 2006.
The rating follows on the heels of global recognition for Zambia's economic achievements in the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation's 2011 'Doing Business' report. In that report, Zambia was named as one of the world's top ten reformers for ease of doing business.
Zambia is also predicted to be one of the world's top ten fastest-growing economies for 2011 to 2015 - showing that there are good times ahead for the Zambian economy.
The country postponed in 2008 a plan to seek a credit rating and sell its first global bond of $1 billion because of the global financial crisis.
Zambia’s rating is the same as that for Ghana, Kenya and Angola and one step above Lebanon’s.
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