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Today's Paper | December 23, 2024

Updated 24 Aug, 2018 04:51pm

Pakistan among countries most vulnerable to dollar appreciation: Moody's

Moody's Investors Service has identified Pakistan among the countries most vulnerable to dollar appreciation, according to an announcement on Friday about its new report.

The just-released report, "Sovereigns - Global Contagion risks greatest where external vulnerability, weak debt affordability meet low policy credibility", examines the countries that have been worst hit by a tightening in financing conditions this year.

According to the announcement, it draws on Moody's previous analyses of where — aside from Turkey — vulnerability to a sharp and sustained deterioration in financing conditions is greatest.

It said the fallout from the correction in Turkey's exchange rate and asset prices highlights again the external vulnerability and sensitivity to a rise in the cost of debt of some emerging and frontier market nations.

"Looking at the size and composition of their balance of payments and the amount of financial buffers in the form of foreign exchange reserves, Moody's identified Argentina, Ghana (B3 stable), Mongolia (B3 stable), Pakistan (B3 negative), Sri Lanka (B1 negative) and Zambia, beside Turkey, as the emerging and frontier market sovereigns most vulnerable to dollar appreciation," it added, mentioning the countries' ratings.

"And out of these, Argentina and Pakistan's currencies have experienced particularly marked depreciations against the dollar year to date."

In June, Moody’s had downgraded Pakistan’s rating to negative from stable. A statement released by the credit rating agency had stated that the decision to change the outlook to negative was driven by heightened external vulnerability risk as ongoing balance of payment pressures erode foreign exchange buffers.

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