Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") has today downgraded the long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings of the Government of Namibia to Ba2 and changed the outlook to stable.
The downgrade reflects further weakening in Namibia's debt position, despite ongoing fiscal consolidation, as growth remains weaker for longer than Moody's previously anticipated.
The stable outlook is underpinned by Namibia's relatively robust institutions and governance strength that supports creditworthiness. Policymakers retain some capacity to respond to shocks, helped by moderate liquidity and external vulnerability risks.
Concurrently, Namibia's long-term local currency bond and bank deposit ceilings were lowered to Baa1 from A2. The long-term foreign currency bank deposit ceiling was lowered to Ba3 from Ba2, and the long-term foreign-currency bond ceiling was lowered to Baa3 from Baa2.
