On 26 October 2016, the countries in the OECD "Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits" (credit insurance agency authorities from Australia, Canada, European Union member countries, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the United States) decided to upgrade Argentina's credit rating from 7/7 to 6/7, on the scale provided for in the Arrangement. This is the first improvement in Argentina's credit rating within OECD since it received the worst rating in April 2002.
It must be underscored that this upgrade in Argentina's rating takes place in a context in which the ratings of home economies have been downgraded.
The purpose of the Arrangement is to establish a homogeneous treatment standard for export credit insurance premiums among participants, so as not to distort competition among capital asset exporters from these countries. In this context, the OECD credit rating has a great bearing on the minimum premium rate charged by Export Credit Insurance Agencies to finance or provide insurance for commercial exports or foreign investment in Argentina.
Therefore, this is the first step towards consolidating improvements in credit conditions to achieve both public and private long-term investments that may contribute to Argentina’s development.
The most significant factors in the decision to upgrade Argentina’s rating include the country’s favourable economic outlook in light of the policies implemented and the intention on the part of the new authorities to honour debts.
This decision is the result of the negotiations coordinated by the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Finance with the authorities of the OECD member countries with a view to stepping up the pace of improvement in the financing conditions for long-term investments in the country. In this regard, negotiations will continue so that Argentina’s credit rating can be upgraded again next year.
A list including the credit ratings of the different countries is available at: http://www.oecd.org/tad/xcred/cre-crc-current-english.pdf
Press Release No. 370/16
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