Indonesia's credit rating raised to investment grade by S&P

Source: Xinhua| 2017-05-19 19:13:37|Editor: liuxin
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JAKARTA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Standard & Poor's (S&P) Global ratings raised Indonesia's credit rating to investment grade, smoothing the way for capital inflows into the country, the S&P said on its website Friday.

This is the first time since December 1997 and the Asian financial crisis that Indonesia's bonds have been rated investment grade by all three major rating agencies including Moody Investors Service and Fitch Ratings.

The sovereign rating was lifted to BBB- from BB+ with a stable outlook and improvement in state's development budget.

The upgrade boosted Jakarta Stock Index 3.2 percent to a record high of 5,825.

Having the investment grade rating from the S&P, Indonesia is likely to be able to lure conservative Japanese institutional investors, according to economic experts.

Indonesia has eased pressures on the state's development budget as it secured over 11 billion U.S. dollars in revenue following a successful tax amnesty, helping financing ongoing huge infrastructure projects.

Rising exports amid increasing global oil prices have built up the central bank foreign exchange reserve to the highest level in five years of 123 billion U.S. dollars.

Indonesian growth accelerated slightly in the first quarter on improving exports by registering 5.01 percent as the country expects 5.1 percent GDP growth this year.

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