Moody’s Investors Service has changed Armenia’s foreign-currency bond ceiling to Ba1 from Baa3, the agency said in a statement.

Moody’s decision to lower Armenia's foreign-currency bond ceiling is based on the rating agency’s assessment of Armenia’s low institutional strength in addition to limited financial and trade openness. In light of the significant dollarization of the economy, Moody’s deems a one notch gap between the foreign-currency bond ceiling and Armenia’s government bond rating appropriate.

If Armenia’s government bond rating were to change, Moody’s would likely reassess the country’s ceilings at that time.