S&P Global Ratings has introduced a new national credit rating scale for Saudi Arabia in response to a growing interest in the kingdom’s local currency debt markets.
The new scheme will help identify the creditworthiness of local loan takers, and comes as Saudi Arabia pursues policies of economic diversification and private sector strengthening as part of Vision 2030.
S&P said the rating scale will be complementary to the one used globally, with the methodology “generally the same” as the international-focused system.
The highest rating in the Saudi scale is ksaAAA, equivalent to ‘A- and above’ in the global scale, and reflects “extremely strong capacity to meet […] financial commitments relative to that of other national obligors.”