Fitch keeps Thailand's sovereign credit rating status at stable BBB+

BANGKOK, July 4 (TNA) - Fitch Ratings Limited (Fitch), a world leading credit rating firm, has maintained Thailand's sovereign credit rating status at the stable BBB+ level. Fitch Ratings (Thailand) Limited (Fitch Thailand), a subsidiary of the UK-based Fitch, announced its updated credit ratings of several countries, including Thailand, at its mid-year 2019 seminar on credit ratings and investment in Asia and the Pacific, organized in Bangkok on June 3. For the Thai Kingdom, Fitch Thailand has maintained its stable BBB+ ratings in the long term for the country's both foreign exchange and internal status. For China, Fitch Thailand has announced Beijing's foreign exchange status at the stable A+ level. Stephen Schwartz, Fitch's Head of Sovereign Ratings for Asia-Pacific, said, however, that an economic slowdown remains in China, caused by a slowdown in its market demand and a decline in the confidence in the Chinese economy among business operators due to negative impacts from the ongoing trade war between the United States and China and Beijing's rising public debt and insufficient economic stimulus, which have become risk factors for China's financial stability in the middle term. Meanwhile, Fitch has projected that China's gross domestic product (GDP) should grow by about 6.2 per cent year-on-year and about 6 per cent year-on-year in 2019 and 2020 respectively. (TNA)