Growth of emerging economies to be strength for many govts in APAC: S&P

Growth of Asian emerging and developing economies will still be a credit strength for many governments in the region, S&P Global Ratings has said, as it expects to retain credit ratings of APAC economies over the next one to two years.

Out of the 21 countries, to which S&P gives a sovereign rating in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, 19 have a stable outlook.

The US-based agency has a 'BBB-' rating on India, with a stable outlook.

In its report 'Asia-Pacific Sovereign Rating Trends 2024', S&P said most sovereign ratings in Asia-Pacific are investment grade with the average rating in the region lying between 'BBB' and 'BBB+'.

A deterioration in the Russia-Ukraine war or the conflict in the Middle East likely poses the most risk to stable sovereign outlooks in Asia-Pacific, S&P said.

The stable outlooks on practically all long-term foreign-currency sovereign ratings in the region (19 out of 21 ratings in Asia-Pacific) suggest there will be few, if any, changes in the next year or so.

"We expect economic and financial conditions to allow us to maintain ratings on most sovereigns in the Asia-Pacific in the next one to two years," S&P said.

It said economic growth in 2024 is unlikely to be as strong as 2023 but will remain resilient in most cases.

Exports should pick up after a weak year in 2023, while international travel should continue to recover.

"Growth of Asian emerging and developing economies will still be a credit strength for many governments in the region.

"We continue to consider several governments in the region to be in economies that are outperformers in terms of trend growth," S&P said.

As per the projections by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), these economies make up the fastest growing regional bloc for which the fund publishes forecasts.

S&P projects India's economy to grow 6.4 per cent in the current and next fiscal years. In 2022-23 fiscal, India's GDP grew at 7.2 per cent.