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that Moody's gave to me over the telephone (in July) for the best sovereign or quasi-sovereign (MTRC in the case of Hong Kong) long term rating placed Hong Kong below Thailand, Malaysia and Korea.
Moody's Sovereign Long Term ratings (in descending order).
Investment Grade
AAA Japan
AA3 Singapore
A1
Korea
A2
A2
Malaysia
Thailand
A3 HK (MTRC senior debt)
Speculative Grade
BAA1 Bank of China
BA2 India
6. It might be of interest to know that Hong Kong domestic debt is rated higher (at AA2) suggesting that foreign debt bears primarily a foreign exchange rate risk. Points about the strength of the exchange fund reserves could be usefully be deployed in this context.
Clutaph 11
Christopher Lane Economic Advisers WH426b 270 2727
20 September 1993
P.S. The approximate cost of the downgrading by one notch
10-15 basis points (ie 0.11%- 0.15%). MTRC
maximum debt for PADOS
Extra
is
is
HU$ 37.5 Bn (May 193 plan) or US$ 4.8 bn.
interest cost to
would MTRC fully drawn. This
Hhovefore
be as 4.8 -7.2 million per year would decline over time
when debt is
as
elebt is
repaid by
2008
Os
scheduled.
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