SL among highest-risk financial systems
December 23, 2011, 7:12 pm
Sri Lanka is among the highest-risk financial systems in the Asia Pacific region Fitch Ratings said in a special report published earlier this week.
"While many advanced economies "de-lever", the speed of credit growth and rising asset prices has led to Asia-Pacific harbouring four of the world’s nine highest-risk financial systems according to Fitch’s macro-prudential risk framework. Hong Kong and China were joined by Indonesia and Sri Lanka in the December 2011 assessment, although Vietnam dropped out as credit growth eased," Fitch said.
The ratings agency also said Sri Lanka had a structural weakness in the balance of payments front, especially with regard to the current account.
"Strong and/or improving external balance sheets buffer most of emerging Asia from ongoing volatility in global investor risk appetite.
"India and Sri Lanka are the only Fitch-rated emerging Asian countries to run deficits on ‘basic balance’ (the current account plus net foreign direct investment).
"This structural weakness may help explain why the Indian rupee fell to a record low against the US dollar in December 2011, while Sri Lanka devalued its currency in November," Fitch said.
"Fitch upgraded Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR to ‘BB?’ with a Stable Outlook from ‘B+’/Positive in July 2011, reflecting the stabilisation and recovery of the economy under the authorities’ IMF programme and efforts to consolidate the chronic budget deficit. However, foreign direct investment has been surprisingly slow to recover after the end of the country’s long civil war in 2009, and the authorities devalued the Sri Lankan rupee by 3% in November 2011. Structural reforms to support longer-term growth prospects combined with further fiscal consolidation efforts would increase Sri Lanka’s chances of moving further up the ratings scale, the ratings agency said.