Moody's upgrades Turkey's rating

Credit rating agency Moody's has upgraded Turkey's rating by one notch to Baa3 from Ba1. The upgrade is significant in that it comes six months after Fitch Ratings raised Turkey's rating to investment grade. Moody's decision brings it in line with Fitch Ratings, which also put Turkey at investment grade with a stable outlook in November. In its statement Moody's said, "Moody's decision to assign a stable outlook on Turkey's ratings reflects the rating agency's expectation of continued prudence in the management of public finances and sustained momentum behind current structural and institutional reforms. Since the beginning of 2009, Turkey's debt burden has fallen by 10 percentage points to a manageable 36 percent of GDP, and Moody's expects this decline to continue in the coming years," the statement said. The reforms highlighted by Moody's as giving Turkey a better footing for handling external shocks include new incentives to increase investment in personal pensions, boosting energy efficiency in a move to wean itself off of energy imports.