OREANDA-NEWS. March 29, 2013. The international rating agency Moody's Investors Service raised Latvia’s credit rating with a positive outlook, which means possible upgrading of the credit rating in the future.

Evaluation of Latvia’s long-term liabilities in foreign currencies has been upgraded from Baa3 to Baa2, with positive outlook. Moody's referred to the high rate of Latvian GDP growth, which over the last two years stayed at 5.5%, as one of the reasons for the upgrading of the rating.

The agency forecasts that in 2013 Latvian GDP will be at the level of 3.75%. Positive evaluation was given to the improvement of the financial situation in Latvia resulting in stabilization of the country’s debt. The agency mentioned strong, flexible and balanced recovery of the national economy from the crisis as a positive development and provided a favorable medium-term growth forecast.

As a positive factor mentioned by Moody's experts is the fact that the government of Latvia has been continuously implementing fiscal consolidation even after the program supported by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union was completed in 2011. In 2012, Latvian budget deficit was 1.5% of GDP, while in 2009 it reached 9.7% of GDP. In the agency’s opinion, the indicator can drop to 0.9% in 2014.

Moody's decision to keep positive outlook on Latvia’s credit rating demonstrates confidence in the economic growth of Latvia in the future. It is worth a mention that Latvia is the only member state of the European Union whose rating was raised by Moody's over the last 18 months. The upgrading of the international creditworthiness makes Latvia more attractive for foreign investors and can promote further economic development of the country.