Fitch Releases Sovereign Report On Korea.Business Editors LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 6, 2002 Fitch, the international rating agency has today released its latest sovereign report on the Republic of Korea. The report sets out in detail the agency's credit analysis of Korea including the rationale behind its upgrade of Korea's ratings in June. On 27 June 2002 Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. upgraded Korea's Long-term foreign currency rating to 'A' from 'BBB+' and its Long-term local currency rating to 'AA-' ('AA minus') from 'A'. The short-term foreign currency rating is 'F1'. The ratings were removed from Rating Watch Positive and placed on Stable Outlook. The upgrade reflected a number of factors, discussed in depth in the report: -- sustained strong macroeconomic mac·ro·ec·o·nom·ics n. (used with a sing. verb) The study of the overall aspects and workings of a national economy, such as income, output, and the interrelationship among diverse economic sectors. performance over the last five years -- massive external adjustment that has seen Korea become a net creditor country to the tune of over USD USD In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the U.S. Dollar. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 35bn -- dramatic recovery in external liquidity that has given Korea the fourth largest stock of official foreign exchange reserves Foreign exchange reserves (also called Forex reserves) in a strict sense are only the foreign currency deposits held by central banks and monetary authorities. in the world after Japan, China and Taiwan -- sharp improvements in the health of the banking system, following an aggressive state-led restructuring restructuring - The transformation from one representation form to another at the same relative abstraction level, while preserving the subject system's external behaviour (functionality and semantics). effort, that has helped support domestic demand in the face of external shocks -- corporate restructuring including de-leveraging, industrial consolidation and, more recently, a recovery in profitability -- unexpectedly strong fiscal performance, with the government forecast to record a budget surplus for the third year running in 2002. The report also discusses: -- remaining vulnerabilities in the corporate sector reflecting still relatively high leverage -- the forthcoming Presidential election and its possible implications for economic policy -- the recent boom in consumer credit and its implications for monetary policy and financial stability -- relations with North Korea and the ongoing constraints CONSTRAINTS - A language for solving constraints using value inference. ["CONSTRAINTS: A Language for Expressing Almost-Hierarchical Descriptions", G.J. Sussman et al, Artif Intell 14(1):1-39 (Aug 1980)]. they imply for sovereign creditworthiness Creditworthiness The condition in which the risk of default on a debt obligation by that entity is deemed low. Creditworthiness Eligibility of an individual or firm to borrow money. . The report is available to subscribers to FitchResearch at the agency's website www.fitchratings.com. |
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