Egypt in the eyes of international rating agencies

In January, Fitch Rating Agency restored Egypt’s outlook to stable for the first time since it was downgraded to negative nearly three years ago. This reflects an improvement in an economy hammered by years of violence and political instability that had a massive toll on foreign reserves and many industries. The ratings firm, however, confirms that there is still a lot more that needs to be done.

Paul Gamble, the director of sovereign group Fitch, answered Daily News Egypt’s questions on what the Egyptian administration needs to do in order to secure an upgrade in the upcoming evaluation, and what the chances are of this happening.

1- Egypt’s B-credit rating was affirmed in Fitch’s most recent revision on 27 June. When will the next evaluation be?
The next evaluation will be issued on 19 December.


2- What does Egypt’s government need to do in order to achieve an upgrade? Do you believe the government moving in the right direction? If yes, how so?
The triggers we have identified that could collectively or individually lead to upgrade are: “Material progress on fiscal consolidation” and “Improved political stability, potentially supported by efforts to accommodate currently marginalised groups”. There has been some progress on fiscal consolidation, such as the recent increases in fuel prices and the introduction of new taxes. We will monitor the data between now and our review time to see how material this progress has been.