Moody's Investors Service on Monday said the strength of the next government's mandate following parliamentary elections this year will influence the medium-term trajectory for fiscal consolidation and governance in India. It said a moderation in economic conditions in the US and the persistence of subdued growth in the euro area in 2024 will further dampen demand for goods produced in Asia Pacific and curb global commodity prices, but large emerging markets like India will be able to mitigate the impact. Moody's in its 2024 outlook for APAC sovereigns said that the forthcoming elections, particularly those with greater likelihood of leadership transitions, including Indonesia, pose a degree of policy uncertainty as governments seek to manage key geopolitical relationships, especially regarding China and the US, current economic and fiscal strains, and longer-term commitments toward addressing climate change. The prevalence of social risks amid political transition could undermine .
Company's reliance on long-term external financing will be critical, says agency
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Central banks' restrictive monetary measures may impact GDP growth and amplify challenges for global banks in 2024, warns Moody's
"The rating agency's understanding of how the Chinese economy works and how the Chinese government functions is not deep enough and does not reflect the reality," Feng added
Moody's lowered its outlook to negative from stable while retaining a long-term rating of A1 on the nation's sovereign bonds, according to a statement
The RBI's decision to tighten norms for unsecured personal loans is credit positive because lenders will need to allocate higher capital for such loans, thus improving their loss-absorbing buffers, Moody's Investors Service said on Monday. The Reserve Bank last week raised risk weights on unsecured retail loans, credit cards and lending to non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) by 25 percentage points. Moody's said unsecured loans have been growing rapidly in the past few years, exposing financial institutions to a potential spike in credit costs in case of sudden economic or interest rate shocks. The tightening of underwriting norms through higher risk-weighted assets is credit positive because lenders will need to allocate higher capitals for such loans improving their loss-absorbing buffers and may dampen their growth appetite, Moody's said in a statement. It said that over the past few years, India's unsecured lending segment has become very competitive, with banks, NBFCs and ..
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Petrol and diesel prices are unlikely to be increased despite firming raw material costs because of upcoming general elections next year, Moody's Investors Service said. Three state-owned fuel retailers -- Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) -- which control roughly 90 per cent of the market, have kept petrol and diesel prices on freeze for a record 18 months in a row. This is despite the raw material (crude oil) cost surging last year, leading to heavy losses in first half of 2022-23 fiscal year before easing oil prices propelled them to profitability. International oil prices have firmed up since August, leading to margins of three retailers turning negative again. "High crude oil prices will weaken the profitability of the three state-owned oil marketing companies in India -- IOC, BPCL and HPCL," Moody's said in a report. "The three companies will have limited flexibility to pass on higher raw mate
Private credit firms and banks have been in a tug of war over financing new deals, with direct lenders raising huge amounts of capital to do so
China's property market has suffered a wave of defaults and debt restructurings since mid-2021 which have also left swathes of homes unfinished
Moody's expects India's economic growth to outpace all other G20 economies through at least the next two years, driven by domestic demand
India's long-term local and foreign-currency issuer ratings and the local-currency senior unsecured rating remains at Baa3, while the other short-term local-currency rating stands at P-3, it said
"Collectively, these three developments have lowered the credit profile of a number of US banks, though not all banks equally," it wrote in some of the assessments
Moody's has warned that Pakistan's ability to secure loans from bilateral and multilateral partners will be severely constrained until new programme is negotiated with International Monetary Fund
A higher rating for India would mean the nation is less riskier, translating into lower interest rates on borrowings
Moody's Investors Service on Thursday said the key determinant of India's fiscal strength and the credit profile will be debt affordability and projected a downward trend for the debt burden. "As long as nominal GDP growth holds, India's debt burden will be stable or decline slightly," Moody's said. In a report, it said India's fast-growing GDP, which is estimated to average 11 per cent in nominal terms, is a key driver of the projections of a downward trend in the country's debt burden. "As in the past, the key determinant of fiscal strength and the credit profile will be debt affordability and in particular the proportion of revenue absorbed by interest payments," Moody's said. India has a relatively high level of general government debt, estimated at around 81.8 per cent of GDP for 2022-23, compared with the Baa-rated median of around 56 per cent. The country also has a low debt affordability, in terms of general government interest payments as a percentage of revenues, which f
Moody's Investors Service has warned that Pakistan is at an increased risk of failing to restart its $6.7 billion bailout programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
The Finance Ministry officials will showcase India's strong economic fundamentals and pitch for a sovereign rating upgrade in a meeting with US-based Moody's on June 16. Moody's Investors Service has a 'Baa3' sovereign credit rating on India, with a stable outlook. 'Baa3' is the lowest investment grade rating. Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran and other senior officials from key ministries would talk about the ongoing economic reforms, government thrust on infrastructure development and forex reserves nearing USD 600 billion, sources said. The government had largely met its fiscal objectives over the past two years. The fiscal deficit, which is the difference between government expenditure and revenue, narrowed to 6.4 per cent of GDP in 2022-23 fiscal, from 6.7 per cent of GDP in 2021-22 fiscal. In the current fiscal, the deficit is budgeted at 5.9 per cent of GDP. As per the fiscal consolidation roadmap, the government intends to br