Fitch revises Ghana’s outlook to negative; affirms at ‘B’

Focus was on Powell speech yesterday, as he sought to calm the markets with a dovish message. He said, inflation is mostly in areas that suffer supply shortages and that the inflation which hit 5% over a year earlier in May is likely to subside as economic activity revives. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 garnered 0.50% to 4,246.44 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA gained 0.2% to 33,945.58 and the Nasdaq composite COMP rose 0.8% to 14,253.27.

Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve chairman said higher U.S. inflation is probably temporary. Helping to calm fears, central bankers might feel pressure to roll back economic stimulus. The Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP rose 0.4% and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 NIK gained 0.1%, while The Hang Seng HIS in Hong Kong advanced 1.3%.

Brent crude futures rose 0.72% to $75.35 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 0.56% to $73.26 per barrel. Brent crude futures now seem to be brushing aside the naysayers with a relentless rally which seems it may go on for a while. The recent rally in oil prices has led Russia to consider proposing an OPEC+ oil-output increase at the group’s meeting next week because the nation sees a supply deficit in the market, according to officials familiar with the matter.

FITCH has revised the outlook on Ghana’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Negative from Stable and affirmed the IDR at ‘B’. The revision of the Outlook to Negative reflects the significant deterioration in public finances stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic and the delays to the government’s fiscal consolidation efforts, which reduces Ghana’s ability to absorb further shocks for an extended period. The ‘B’ rating reflects the high public debt level and low revenue base, which means that Ghana’s debt affordability metrics will remain markedly weaker than rating peers over the rating horizon.