S & P Raises Korean Credit Rating To Bb+

Standard & Poor's Corp, raised its ratings on South Korean debt on Tuesday, citing the Korean government's progress in implementing labour, corporate and bankruptcy law reforms.

S&P said the upgrades reflected its expectation that an agreement between South Korea and its creditors to extend at least $20 billion in short-term debt would be successfully put into effect. Even with S&P's upgrades, South Korean debt will remain in the risky junk bond category. The upgrade brings South Korea only one notch away from regaining its coveted investment-grade status.

S&P raised South Korea's long-term foreign currency debt rating to BB+' from 'B+', and raised the country's short-term foreign currency debt rating to 'B' from 'C'.

 

Italso raised the nation's long-term local currency debt rating to 'BBB+' from 'BBB-' and its short-term local currency debt rating to A-2 fro A-3.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund released a further $2 billion to South Korea on Tuesday, bringing total IMF lending to about $15 billion so far out of its $21 billion Seoul rescue package agreed last December.

An IMF executive board met on Tuesday for its first quarterly review of the biggest credit offered by the international institution to date. The board expressed approval of measures taken so far by Seoul to bolster the nation's struggling economy, an IMF official said.