Almaty, 13 January 2012. Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Eurasian Development Bank’s (EDB) Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ’BBB’ with positive outlook. It has also affirmed its Short-term IDR at ’F2.’
According to the agency, the EDB’s ratings are underpinned by its strong capitalisation and excellent asset quality. The agency believes that the quality of the Bank’s treasury assets is closely correlated to the credit quality of regional financial institutions and sovereigns.
Despite the rapid expansion of the Bank’s operations since 2007, equity to assets were a high 59.0% at end-June 2011.
The bank’s operations are concentrated on the private sector of member countries. Its credit portfolio is less concentrated than for most multilateral development banks. Fitch believes that the EDB has a significant safety factor with respect to lending and that its credit portfolio will grow at a stable pace, although slower than in previous years.
