TDS Desk

Moody’s Ratings has taken rating actions on six Bangladeshi banks, including BRAC Bank, City Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank, Eastern Bank, Mercantile Bank and Premier Bank.

The rating agency has downgraded BRAC’s long-term (LT) local currency (LC) and foreign currency (FC) deposit ratings to B2 from B1.

It has also downgraded Mercantile Bank’s and Premier Bank’s LT LC and FC deposit ratings to B3 from B2.

Moody’s also affirmed the B2 LT LC and FC deposit ratings of City Bank, Eastern Bank and Dutch-Bangla Bank.

At the same time, they have changed the outlooks on the LT deposit ratings of all six banks to negative from stable.

Earlier on Monday (18 November), Moody’s lowered Bangladesh’s long-term ratings to B2 from B1, marking the country’s second consecutive downgrade in less than two years, while affirming its short-term ratings at “Not Prime”.

The rating agency also revised its outlook to “negative” from “stable” for the first time in 14 years since Bangladesh began receiving ratings from Moody’s in 2010.

The downgrade and shift to a negative outlook could raise borrowing costs for both the government and private sector, making access to international funds more expensive amid high inflation.

The international rating agency has also revised Bangladesh’s GDP growth forecast, lowering it to 4.5% from 6.3% for the current fiscal year and to 5.8% from 6% for the next.