International rating agency Standard & Poor's announced a new outlook on the credit rating of Azerbaijan in local and foreign currency, Contact.az reported.

Standard & Poor's lowered the rating on long-term credit rating of Azerbaijan in foreign and national currency from “stable” to “negative” on the level "BB + / B". Rating downgrade is explained by deterioration of the economic situation of the country.

For the first half of 2016 the decline in the economy of Azerbaijan was higher as the agency predicted the decline of 1%, but it was 3.4%. It predicts a decrease in the second half-year by 3%. It is supposed that the curve of economy will go up since the beginning of 2017.

Standard & Poor’s considers that if GDP growth of 3% is not achieved in 2017, it could have serious negative consequences. The level of life of citizens will worsen, and fiscal efficiency of the state will decrease.

According to Standard & Poor, in 2017 Azerbaijan's GDP will amount to 59 billion manats, and then will grow to reach 77 billion manats in 2019. The weakening of the credit rating of Azerbaijan has begun with oil cost reduction.

In January, 2016 Standard & Poor’s lowered a credit rating to “BB+” which is considered a speculative or garbage rating.