ABUJA Reuters - Nigeria's finance minister said on Thursday she disagreed with the country's credit rating by Moody's, saying that the government was already addressing the agency's concerns.
Moody's downgraded the West African oil producer to Caa 1 from B 3 last week, saying the government's fiscal and debt position was expected to keep deteriorating, an announcement that sent Nigeria's dollar-bond and currency forwards tumbling.
Moody's downgrade came as a surprise to us because we had presented all the work we have been doing to stablise the economy, the minister, Zainab Ahmed, told reporters in Abuja.
These are external rating agencies that don't have the full understanding of what is happening in our domestic environment. She said that S&P's rating, due on Friday, would be more positive.
She said they came out with a better assessment.
Nigeria has been facing oil production shortages due to crude theft in recent years, but production has started to recover.
It has suffered from chronic dollar shortages and high debt service which has eaten into government revenues.
Moody's downgrade cited these factors as reasons for its downgrade.