By John Lee. Fitch Ratings has assigned Erbil's Region Trade Bank for Investment and Finance Private Shareholding (RTB) a Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'CCC+', and Viability Rating (VR) at 'ccc+'. It says the rating reflects the bank's, "limited franchise, unstable business model, volatile and concentrated customer deposit base and weak albeit improving profitability." […]
By John Lee. Fitch Ratings has affirmed Iraq's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'B-' with a Stable Outlook. More details here. (Source: Fitch Ratings)
By John Lee. Fitch Ratings has assigned the Gulf Commercial Bank (GCB) a Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'CCC+', and Viability Rating (VR) at 'ccc+'. It says the rating reflects the bank's, "weak franchise and unstable business model, operations in the highly volatile operating environment of Iraq, a high impaired loans ratio (which is […]
By John Lee. Fitch Ratings has assigned the Sumer Commercial Bank (SCB) a Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'CCC+', and Viability Rating (VR) at 'ccc+'. It says the rating reflects the bank's "weak operating environment, limited franchise, unstable business model and weak profitability". More here. (Source: Fitch Ratings)
By John Lee. Fitch Ratings has said that Iraq's government debt is set to fall steeply as a share of GDP in 2022, bringing it to pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels. It adds that while this is positive for the sovereign's creditworthiness, the decline may not be sustainable, as it partly reflects political tensions that have constrained […]
By John Lee. Fitch Ratings has assigned the Kurdistan International Islamic Bank (KIIB) a Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'CCC+', and Viability Rating (VR) at 'ccc+'. It says the rating reflects the bank's "weak franchise, unstable business model and operations in the highly volatile operating environment of Iraq". More here. (Source: Fitch Ratings)
By John Lee. Fitch Ratings has assigned the Erbil-based Region Trade Bank for Investment and Finance Private Shareholding (RTB) a Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'CCC+', and Viability Rating (VR) at 'ccc+'. It says the privately-owned bank has minimal market shares in Iraq, no competitive advantages and limited distribution capabilities. More here. (Source: Fitch […]
By John Lee. Fitch Ratings has assigned Gulf Commercial Bank (GCB) a Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'CCC+'. GCB is a privately-owned bank, headquartered in Baghdad and regulated by the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI). More here. (Source: Fitch Ratings)
By John Lee. Fitch Ratings has revised its outlook on Iraq's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Stable from Negative and affirmed the IDR at 'B-'. More here. (Source: Fitch)
By John Lee. GDP growth in Iraq is expected to hit 4.1 percent in 2019, up from 2.8 percent this year, acccording to data from Moody's. The gain is based on an expectation of oil prices averaging $75 per barrel, and would be the highest level since 2016’s 13.1 percent expansion. The National quotes the […]
By John Lee. The Iraqi economy is forecast to grow 1.5 percent in 2018, according to a report from BMI Research, a unit of rating agency Fitch. It goes on to predict that the economy will jump 4.5 percent in 2019 as a result of reconstruction efforts. (Source: MENAFN)
By John Lee. Iraq opened the books yesterday on its first independent bond sale in a decade. "Investor demand was huge," writese Marcus Ashworth at Bloomberg. "The deal was seven times oversubscribed." The $1-billion, dollar-denominated bond, maturing in March 2023, was expected yield 7 percent, but demand enabled that to be cut to 6.75 percent. […]
