Coface sees improvement

Coface, a French agency specialised in risk management, announced on Wednesday that it would increase Romania”s rating, taking it one step further to the “A4″ category. The agency announces its ratings for 151 countries at the beginning of each year. Over the course of 2005, Coface had upped Romania”s rating by one step, from “B” to “B plus”. Category “A4” indicates a mediocre history of payments, which can worsen due to a deteriorating economic and political environment; the defaulting probability is, however, acceptable. “I am convinced that if Romania does what it has to do with a view to its accession to the European Union, our rating will go up, in line with those of Poland and Slovakia,” said Cristian Ionescu, chief executive of Coface Romania. He says the upgrade of the country rating to the A4 category will expand access to international markets and credit ceilings of Romanian companies for commercial credits from their foreign partners or from financial risk insurance companies. ZF