It became known yesterday that the Standard & Poor's (S&P) rating agency has granted a rating to Armenia for the first time, and this news is being broadly discussed since yesterday. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this at Thursday's Cabinet meeting of the government, and asked Minister of Finance Tigran Khachatryan to explain what this means.

The minister noted that the S&P has rated the Armenian government for the first time and granted it a "B+" sovereign rating, with a "positive" outlook, for the issuance of long-term liabilities in foreign and national currencies.

"Standard & Poor's notes that if their expectations for economic growth in Armenia are met, external vulnerability is reduced, and the state budget performance is more positive than what they expect in the next 2-3 years, this will lead to further improvement of the country's sovereign rating. (…). Standard & Poor's expects that the implementation of the government's 5-year program will lead to faster economic growth. (…),” the finance minister added, in particular.

In turn, PM Pashinyan noted that as a result of this S&P rating, Armenian companies will receive cheaper loans from abroad.