Fitch Ratings is upgrading Congo to 'CCC+' and removing long-term IDRs from Under Criteria Observation (UCO).

Fitch Ratings has raised the default rating of long-term foreign and local currency (IDR) issuers in the Republic of Congo to “CCC+” of “CCC ”. Fitch generally doesn't assign prospects to monarchs with a “CCC+” rating or lower. Fitch removed long-term IDRs from Under Criteria Observation (UCO).

Fitch expects a significant easing of Congo's financing needs in 2022 and 2023 in a context of substantial increase in public revenues due to the rise in prices in the country Trole. Higher revenues will result in cash balances that we expect to reach 3.0% of GDP in 2022 and 2.3% in 2023, net of the settlement of arrears, which we estimate to be 4.7% and 2.5%, respectively (implying even more budgetary surplus) e acute; raised on the basis of commitments).

Fitch expects Congo's current account surplus to widen to 15.3% of GDP in 2022, compared to a preliminary figure of 12.6% in 2021, mainly reflecting the Rising oil prices. Congo's ratings are limited by significant structural weaknesses. The country's composite governance indicator has a percentile rank of 10, one of the lowest among the monarchs rated by Fitch and well below the “B”/“C”/“D” median of 30.