Indonesia Resilient to Shocks

Fitch Ratings has upgraded Indonesia’s credit ratings by a notch to their second lowest investment grade, saying the direction of macroeconomic and monetary policies has made Southeast Asia’s largest economy resilient to external shocks, Reuters reported. The rating was raised to BBB from BBB-, with a stable outlook, and placed Fitch ahead of the two other major ratings agencies, S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service. Fitch said Indonesia’s resilience to external shocks has steadily strengthened in the past few years on the back of macroeconomic policies that have been geared toward maintaining stability. “Monetary policy has been sufficiently disciplined to limit bouts of volatile capital outflows during challenging periods,” the ratings agency said in a statement. “Macro-prudential measures have helped curb a sharp rise in corporate external debt, while financial deepening has coincided with improved market stability.” Investors welcomed the news, with the rupiah up 0.2% in early trading and the benchmark stock index rising as much 0.8%.