Barbados heading towards financial downgrade

(Barbados Nation) Barbados is on the verge of another financial downgrade.

And Deputy Central Bank of Barbados Governor Harold Codrington says to avoid it the island must keep trimming its fiscal deficit.

Codrington spoke against the backdrop of international credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service lowering its domestic currency rating on Barbados last June to the brink of junk, citing concerns about the nation’s ability to absorb high levels of government debt issuance as the already large deficit was expected to rise.

Last November another ratings firm, Standard & Poor’s, affirmed its BBB-/A-3 local and foreign currency sovereign credit ratings on Barbados this week, but lowered its outlook from stable to negative, saying the outlook change reflected the rising risk.