Cairo – Mubasher: Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) has affirmed Egypt’s long-term foreign and local currency issuer ratings at ‘B2’ and changed the outlook to negative from stable.

The credit rating agency also affirmed the country’s foreign-currency senior unsecured ratings at ‘B2’ and foreign-currency senior unsecured MTN programme rating at (P)B2, according to a press release.

Moody's pointed out that the negative outlook reflects the rising risks of Egypt’s ability to absorb external shocks.

In addition, the ‘B2’ ratings are still backed by the government's pro-active crisis response and economic and fiscal reform implementation during the past six years.

Meanwhile, Egypt's local currency (LC) and foreign currency (FC) ceilings remain unchanged.