Moody’s to upgrade Ireland credit rating, says Rabobank

The ratings agency assigned Ireland an A3 rating in May 2016

Moody’s current credit rating for Ireland is A3. According to Rabobank, the agency is likely to upgrade Ireland’s rating today. (Photograph: Scott Eells/Bloomberg)
Moody’s current credit rating for Ireland is A3. According to Rabobank, the agency is likely to upgrade Ireland’s rating today. (Photograph: Scott Eells/Bloomberg)

Moody's, a bond credit rating business, is likely to upgrade Ireland's credit rating later today according to an analyst note from Rabobank.

The note from the Netherlands headquartered bank says that although Moody's has flagged the risks to Ireland from Brexit and US tax changes, the balance of probability is it that the agency will upgrade the country's rating.

The note reports that when Moody’s produced an updated credit opinion for Ireland in January, it highlighted three factors that could bring about a rating upgrade. Those factors include a combination of continuing strong growth, further improvement in the banking sector and more profitable sale of the government’s stakes in the banks.

Moody's assigned Ireland an A3 rating in May 2016. According to Rabobank, that is one notch lower than the rating that Fitch assigned and two notches below Standard and Poor's.

Peter Hamilton

Peter Hamilton

Peter Hamilton is a contributor to The Irish Times specialising in business