Fitch Agency Affirms Slovakia's Rating at 'A-', Outlook Stable

Bratislava, 9 May (TASR) - The Fitch Ratings agency has affirmed Slovakia's Long-Term Foreign-Currency (LTFC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'A-', with a stable outlook, the Finance Ministry has informed TASR. The ministry stressed that this is an important signal of confidence in the Slovak economy and in the government’s steps in an exceptionally challenging period marked by global instability, wars, energy uncertainty, oil shocks, and weak performance of several European economies, including Slovakia's main trading partners. "The fiscal consolidation is progressing. The government has implemented three consolidation packages over three years, totalling some 4 percent of GDP. The second was particularly significant, as it included politically difficult measures, and helped stem the deterioration in public finances," stated Fitch in its assessment. The agency perceives problems with the external environment in the form of the conflict in the Middle East and subdued external demand from Slovakia's largest trading partners. "We now project growth will remain stable in 2026 and increase modestly to 1.4 percent in 2027. Growth will remain underpinned by household consumption, investment linked to Recovery and Resilience Facility funds, gradually improving external demand and activation of new auto industry investments," stated Fitch. Slovakia's rating reflects EU and eurozone membership, a credible macroeconomic framework, steady EU inflows and a developed export sector. It also positively views the continued confidence between Slovakia and investors. One of the most reputable rating agencies has also clearly stated that the state of public finances has improved thanks to the government's measures, stated Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (Smer-SD) in reaction to the rating. He also pointed to the exceptionally challenging economic situation. "The external environment isn't in our favour, we are paying the price for economic headwinds, wars, the oil crisis, the EU's inability to respond to the loss of competitiveness, and we have to cope with all of this. Financial markets trust the government's measures and Slovakia is a credible partner for investors. This was also proven this week when Swiss investors showed interest in our government bonds," stressed Kamenicky. The most recent change to Slovakia's rating was made by Standard & Poor's (S&P), which two weeks ago (24 April) downgraded the rating by one notch from A+ with a negative outlook to A with a stable outlook. ko