Above: the Caribbean Development Bank’s headquarters

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Ratings firm Standard & Poor’s has raised its outlook on the Caribbean Development Bank to stable from negative.

The revision came as the New York-based firm affirmed the bank’s “AA/A-1+” status on long and short-term foreign currency ratings.

The firm said its shift to stable came for several reasons, including the abatement of external liquidity pressures among some of the CDB’s largest borrowers, strengthening of risk management structures and its “role as a prominent lender in the Caribbean,” among others.

“We welcome the revision in our outlook to stable and are satisfied that the measures we have taken have been successful in contributing to the improvement in outlook,” said Dr Warren Smith, president of the CDB. “We have strengthened our risk management structures and monitoring; further improved capital adequacy and continued with good liquidity planning. Our priority continues to be equipping ourselves to remain a strong institution which has the confidence of our partners and provides timely, effective support to our BMCs.”

Smith said the bank was “encouraged” by gains made within in the region on the fiscal and debt sustainability front, while being mindful of the continued challenges of “accelerating growth, sustaining fiscal consolidation, and containing the debt burden.”

“Our performance is inextricably linked to that of our member countries’ performance generally, and to their support of the Bank’s preferred creditor status specifically,” he said.