Qatar’s Sovereign Ratings Affirmed; Outlook Revised to Stable from Negative

Ref: QA19CRA00-1 25 th January 201 9

Qatar’s Sovereign Ratings Affirmed; Outlook Revised to Stable from Negative

RATING ACTION

Capital Intelligence Ratings (CI Ratings or CI ) , the international credit rating agency, today announced that it has affirmed Qatar’s Long-Term Foreign Currency (LT FC) and Long-Term Local Currency (LT LC) Issuer Rating s at ‘A A- ’ . The sovereign’s Short-Term Foreign Currency (ST FC) and Short-Term Local Currency (ST LC) Ratings have also been affirmed at ‘A1 + ’. At the same time, CI Ratings has revised the Outlook fo r the r atings to Stable from Negative .

RATING RATIONALE

T he ratings and Stable Outlook reflect substantial improvements in the budget and current account balance s in 2018, as well as CI’s expectation that the country’s fiscal and external positions will remain relatively stable in the coming years. Qatar ’s ratings continue to be primarily supported by very large…