AUSTRIA: Moody’s Affirms Austria’s Aa1 Ratings; Maintains Stable Outlook

Tuesday May 29 2018

On 25^th May 2018, Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) affirmed Austria’s Aa1 long-term issuer rating. Concurrently, the government’s senior unsecured and senior unsecured medium-term note (MTN) programme ratings have also been affirmed at Aa1 and (P)Aa1, respectively. Austria’s commercial paper programme rating and the other short-term ratings have been affirmed at Prime-1 and (P)Prime-1, respectively. The outlook remains stable.

The affirmation of Austria’s Aa1 ratings is based on the following key rating drivers:

•  Austria’s very high economic strength, supported by a wealthy and highly competitive economy, although its trend growth is lower than the respective median of Aaa-rated sovereigns.
• Austria’s high fiscal strength, underpinned by favourable debt affordability metrics, despite a still elevated level of general government debt relative to GDP.
• Austria’s very high institutional strength, supported by significant policy credibility and very high policy effectiveness.

The stable outlook on Austria’s Aa1 rating reflects Moody’s view that risks to Austria’s credit profile are balanced, with favourable trends in key credit metrics that relate to economic and fiscal strength, balanced by lower trend growth and higher debt levels compared to the respective Aaa-medians.

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