Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on April 8 revised tonegative from stable its outlook on Cape Verde's long-term ratings.

The rating agency attributed the outlook revision primarily toCape Verde's increasingly vulnerable fiscal position as the government debt doubledover the past seven years. The outlook revision also reflects downside risks toS&P's already modest economic growth forecasts.

S&P also affirmed the country's long- and short-termforeign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings at B/B.

The ratings remain constrained by the country's high publicdebt level, weak external position and limited monetary policy flexibility.

S&P Ratings andGlobal Market Intelligence are owned by McGraw Hill Financial Inc.