Credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings has revised its ratings on five El Salvadorian banks, the agency said in a statement. Fitch raised the long-term national scale rating on El Salvadorian Banco Agrícola, Banagrícola and Inversiones Financieras Banco Agrícola to AA from AA-, and the short-term rating to F1+ from F1. Fitch also upgraded its ratings outlook on El Salvadorian Banco Uno to stable from negative due to an improvement in the quality of the bank’s assets. It upgraded its ratings outlook on El Salvadorian state-run mortgage lender Fondo Social para la Vivienda to positive from stable due to an increase in its provisions.
Chile's insurance association will next week call on the country's special pension reform commission to act to the increase coverage of the mandatory pension and to open employer-sponsored schemes similar to the 401(k) pension plans offered in the US. According to the country's national statistics office, only 6% of 1.5 million self-employed workers contribute to the private pension system. The country’s voluntary savings scheme, known as APV, for people wanting to save money for retirement over and above the compulsory AFP pension, mostly benefits high-income individuals. Chile's six pension fund managers, that handle $78 billion in assets and have yielded 10.2% a year on average since 1981, stand accused of charging high commissions and obstructing competition.
The Philippines Central Bank said that although foreign workers’ remittances for the first two months of the year improved compared to last year, inflows might slow in 2007 owing to a projected decline in the deployment of overseas workers. Remittances for the first two months of 2006 stood at $1.8 billion, as against $1.6 billion over the same period the previous year. However, the central bank’s Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said that remittances of sent though commercial banks are conservatively expected to grow at 10% in 2007.
Fitch Ratings downgraded Thailand's GDP growth forecast for this year to 4.3% from 5%, due to the recent political turmoil. Fitch cautioned that if political turmoil continues it could affect Thailand's proposed mega projects as well as medium-term economic growth. Thailand’s outlook remains stable.
Fitch affirmed the long-term foreign and domestic currency ratings of Serbia at BB- with a stable outlook. The short-term rating and the country ceiling were also affirmed at B and “BB-, respectively. The agency noted that the credit ratings are supported by cautious fiscal policy, which resulted in a 1.6% budget surplus in 2005 and an expected 2.7% surplus this year, and the reduction in public debt, which is expected to fell to 44% of GDP at the end of the year from 51% of GDP at the end of 2005. The $0.6 billion Paris Club debt write-off has also helped.
Slovakia’s current account deficit worsened significantly and reached 23.2 billion koruna for January and February, compared to 2.9 billion for the same period last year. High commodity prices, rising imports and a widening trade deficit accounted for a large part of the deterioration in the current account: it rose from 21.6 billion koruna to 5.7 billion koruna last year. The current account deficit for the year-to-date increased to 9.3% of GDP against 8.8% for 2005.