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Moody's upgrades Belarus, affirms stable outlook

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Moody's upgrades Belarus, affirms stable outlook

Moody's raised Belarus' issuer and senior unsecured ratings to B3 from Caa1 with a stable outlook, citing the country's strengthening external liquidity position.

The rating agency said that although that position remains weak, Belarus has gained momentum since a balance-of-payments crisis in 2015.

"During the past two years, Belarus has received long-term debt disbursements from multilateral and bilateral lenders and also tapped the international bond market for the first time in nearly a decade, which has helped to rebuild foreign currency reserves," Moody's said.

Moody's also cited the central bank's 2015 decision to float the Belarus ruble, noting the positive effect on the trade and current accounts.

Belarus' current account deficit declined to 1.8% in 2017 due to strong external demand. The rating agency expects the current account deficit to widen again in 2018 and 2019, but only to the range of 2.5% to 3% of GDP.