Sovereign credit ratings during the COVID-19 pandemic

Tran, Yen, Vu, Huong, Klusak, Patrycja, Kramer, Moritz and Hoang, Tri (2021) Sovereign credit ratings during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Review of Financial Analysis, 78. ISSN 1057-5219

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Abstract

Using 603 sovereign rating actions by the three leading global rating agencies between January 2020 and March 2021, this paper shows that the severity of sovereign ratings actions is not directly affected by the intensity of the COVID-19 health crisis (proxied by case and mortality rates) but through a mechanism of its negative economic repercussions such as the economic outlook of a country and governments' response to the health crisis. Contrary to expectations, credit rating agencies pursued mostly a business-as-usual approach and reviewed sovereign ratings when they were due for regulatory purposes rather than in response to the rapid developments of the pandemic. Despite their limited reaction to the ongoing pandemic, sovereign rating news from S&P and Moody's still conveyed price-relevant information to the bond markets.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	covid-19,economic outlook,rating calendars,sovereign credit ratings,finance,economics and econometrics ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2000/2003
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Finance Group Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Competition Policy
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	14 Oct 2021 01:11
Last Modified:	21 Apr 2023 01:10
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/81696
DOI:	10.1016/j.irfa.2021.101879

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