Fitch Revises Rivers State Outlook to Negative; Affirms at 'BB-'

Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on the Nigerian State of Rivers' Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Negative from Stable. The agency has also the affirmed Long-term foreign and local currency IDRs at 'BB-' and its National Long-term rating at 'AA-(nga)'. The Outlooks on the local currency IDR and on the National Long-term rating remain Stable. 


Under EU credit rating agency (CRA) regulation, the publication of local and regional government (LRG) reviews is subject to restrictions and must take place according to a published schedule, except where it is necessary for CRAs to deviate from this in order to comply with their legal obligations.

Fitch interprets this provision as allowing us to publish a rating review in situations where there is a material change in the creditworthiness of the issuer that we believe makes it inappropriate for us to wait until the next scheduled review date to update the rating or Outlook/Watch status.

The next scheduled review date for Fitch's ratings on Rivers State was originally 11 September 2015. However, following the downgrade of Nigeria's Outlooks we have taken a similar rating action on Rivers State as the issuer is rated at the same level as the sovereign for the Long-term foreign currency IDR.