Fitch has downgraded Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC), Mazoon and Omantel’s long-term foreign currency issuer default ratings, as well as the long-term local currency issuer default ratings of OETC and Mazoon, from BB to BB- and keeping their outlook negative.

Last week, Fitch downgraded Oman’s credit rating for the second time this year, bringing it down a notch to ‘BB-’ from ‘BB’ and keeping its outlook negative, citing the continuing erosion of its fiscal and external balance sheets.

“OETC's, Mazoon's and Omantel's ratings are assessed using Fitch's Government Related Entities (GRE) Rating Criteria. Their Standalone Credit Profiles (SCP) are higher than the Oman sovereign rating of ‘BB-’,” said Fitch.

“We do not envisage them to be rated higher than the sovereign's, given the moderate-to-strong legal and operational linkages between the government and each of these companies. Changes to the sovereign rating would therefore likely be reflected in the ratings of OETC, Mazoon and Omantel.”

Fitch also downgraded Bahrain from BB- to B+ Outlook Stable earlier this month.

(Writing by Imogen Lillywhite; editing by Seban Scaria)

Fitch downgrades Oman's OETC, Mazoon and Omantel to 'BB-' 

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