Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has reviewed the banking sector of the Republic of Tunisia (BB/Stable/B) under its updated Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA) methodology.
S&P said it ranked Tunisia in BICRA group ‘8’, along with countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, Georgia, Nigeria, and Kazakhstan.
The BICRA comprises two main areas of analysis–economic risk and industry risk–where Tunisia scores ‘8’ in each.
The ratings agency’s risk score of ‘8’ reflects its opinion that Tunisia faces “very high risk” in “economic resilience,” “intermediate risk” in “economic imbalances,” and “extremely high risk” in “credit risk in the economy,” as its criteria define these terms.
The industry risk score for Tunisia is ‘8’. This reflects S&P opinion that the country faces “very high risk” in its “institutional framework” and “systemwide funding” and “high risk” in its “competitive dynamics.”
Standard & Poor’s classified the Tunisian government as “supportive” of its domestic banks, as demonstrated through its good track record of supporting systemically important banks when needed. It noted, however, that the government has limited financial flexibility and capacity to provide extraordinary support to banks in the event of a systemic crisis.
