STEVANOVIĆ: IMPROVEMENT OF CREDIT RATING IS THE BASIS FOR FURTHER PROGRESS

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 11 /SRNA/ - The improvement of the credit rating of Republika Srpska is a small victory that should be the basis for the continued progress and development of the domestic financial and economic ecosystem, assessed economist Saša Stevanović.

Stevanović told SRNA that the credit rating is important due to the fact that investors, such as pension funds, large banks, and insurance companies, enter the market based on these indicators. "If you have an investment-grade credit rating, you have access to the savings of citizens of Western countries. We do not have that investment rating yet. Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia have it. We should have it, and we will have it when we deserve it. We will deserve it when we explain to the analysts of rating agencies why this area is of low risk. For example, one of the reasons why we are solvent is the low level of both public and private debt. Private debt is the debt of citizens and the economy. Compared to developed countries and those in the region, it is extremely low," Stevanović explains. According to him, a better rating brings more investments. "In Republika Srpska, we know what the public sector wants as an investment and the total value of these projects is BAM 17 billion. However, we still do not know for the economy, but incentives for them will certainly help us significantly to form a map of private investments in Republika Srpska. I hope that we will soon get a rating for a domestic company as well," Stevanović pointed out. In its latest report following the regular annual assessment, the international rating agency "Standard and Poor's" confirmed the credit rating of Republika Srpska at the "B" level, with an improvement in the outlook from "negative" to "stable".