Dagong maintains sovereign credit rating of Romania, Switzerland

Chinese credit rating agency Dagong Global said Wednesday that it has maintained the sovereign credit rating of Romania and Switzerland. The agency maintained Romania's local sovereign credit rating of BB and its foreign currency sovereign credit rating of BB- with a negative outlook. Dagong said Romania's improved execution of policies resulted in a stable economic and financial system, although these policies have not affected structural risks in political, economic and financial areas and therefore did not allow the nation's credit rating to be boosted. Dagong said Romania's economic development lacks the potential to create lasting growth, despite its slight rise and a temporarily stable banking system that still faces a high degree of risk. Dagong predicted that Romania will see actual economic growth of 1.5 percent in 2011 and that its total foreign debt will rise to 74.1 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). For Switzerland, Dagong kept its local and foreign currency sovereign credit rating at AAA with a stable outlook. Switzerland's flexible and stable macroeconomic framework and good fiscal and international payment balance softened the impact of the international financial crisis, allowing the government to have strong local and foreign currency solvency, Dagong said. The country's economy will maintain slow growth in the medium- and long-term, since domestic demand is predicted to replace exports as the major driving force of its economy, Dagong said. Dagong estimated that the actual economic growth of Switzerland will drop to 2.0 percent in 2011 from 2.7 percent in 2010 and that its economy will maintain an average growth rate of 1.8 percent for the next five years.