Moody’s Sees Downgraded #Oman Still Dodging #Bahrain-Like Bailout - Bloomberg

Moody’s Sees Downgraded Oman Still Dodging Bahrain-Like Bailout - Bloomberg:

Moody’s Investors Service, which downgraded Oman’s credit rating to junk last week, said the cash-strapped sultanate won’t require a bailout similar to the one that Bahrain got in the next 12 to 18 months.

Oman doesn’t have any significant debt redemption coming due and has sufficient buffers to get through an unlikely “period of impaired market access” in the next 12 to 18 months, said Alexander Perjessy, a senior analyst at Moody’s. It has enough foreign-exchange reserves and another estimated $15 billion in liquid sovereign-wealth-fund assets, he said.

“The initial conditions are very different,” Perjessy said in an interview in Dubai. “Oman is starting from a much stronger position than where Bahrain was a year ago, and that’s reflected in the ratings.”