Fitch Upgrades Iceland Ratings, Affirms Belgium

(RTTNews) - Fitch Ratings upgraded sovereign ratings of Iceland with 'stable' outlook and affirmed ratings of Belgium.

Elsewhere, Standard & Poor's retained the credit ratings of the Czech Republic and Moody's kept unchanged Estonia's rating.

Iceland

The agency raised its sovereign ratings of Iceland to 'BBB+' citing strategy for the liberalization of capital controls. Fitch expects the plan to allow for lifting of capital controls without generating undue balance of payments pressures.

Nonetheless, the liberalization strategy inevitably carries some execution risks, Fitch cautioned. The outlook on the rating was 'stable'.

Belgium

Further, Fitch affirmed Belgium's ratings at 'AA' with a 'negative' outlook. The current ratings balance Belgium's high public debt burden and recent fiscal slippage against its strong net external creditor position, high income and diversified economy, track record of macroeconomic stability and relatively strong governance.

The Czech Republic

S&P on Friday retained the credit ratings of the Czech Republic at 'AA-' with 'stable' outlook.

The ratings reflect the diversified productive economy, stable institutions, and moderate levels of public debt. S&P expects the central bank to achieve its inflation target within 2015-2018 and real economic growth to average 2.6 percent.

Estonia

Moody's Investors Service maintained Estonia's A1 government bond rating with a stable outlook. The drivers of the ratings were the strong balance sheet of the government, the resilience of economy and government's strong institutions.

Fitch Ratings also affirmed Armenia's ratings at 'B+' with a 'stable' outlook.