BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 5. The foreign currency senior unsecured rating of Southern Gas Corridor CJSC (SGC) has been upgraded to ‘Ba1’ from ‘Ba2’, Trend reports via the outlook from Moody’s Investors Service.
At the same time, the outlook has been changed from positive to stable.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, financial indicators remain strong and are improving faster than expected, thanks to sound budget management in the face of economic recovery and high energy prices, Moody’s said.
“The stable outlook balances credit strengths from Azerbaijan's sizeable assets that underpin fiscal strength and lower government liquidity and external vulnerability risks, against credit challenges including still limited prospects for economic diversification, and longstanding (although improving) institutional and governance weaknesses. Geopolitical tensions with neighboring Armenia remain, while spillovers from the Russia/Ukraine military conflict such as secondary sanctions and disrupted trade or supply chains pose downside risks,” the agency noted.
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