According to Santo Domingo’s government, Standard and Poor‘s risk assessment agency has raised the Dominican Republic’s long-term sovereign credit rating. During a press conference today, Thursday 21 May 2015, Presidency spokesman Roberto Rodriguez Marchena said that the rating was improved to BB- from B+.

Standard & Poor remarks: “In our opinion, the Dominican Republic has a growing track record of sound monetary policy execution under an inflation-targeting regime. Lower fiscal deficits since 2012 (on tax reform, higher mining revenues, and containment in spending) and cash- and debt-management practices by the Treasury have also strengthened the Dominican Republic’s fiscal position. We are raising our long-term sovereign credit ratings on the Dominican Republic to BB- from B+. The stable outlook is premised on our assumption that the government will contain pre-election-related spending – in contrast with the previous presidential election – and that the debate about allowing consecutive presidential terms will not disrupt the economy.”

Moody’s rating for Dominican Republic sovereign debt is B1. Fitch’s credit rating for Dominican Republic is B. Overall the credit ratings are used by sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and other investors to monitor the credit worthiness of Dominican Republic. The ratings influence the country’s international borrowing costs.