LONDON: Ratings agency Moody's assigned Ivory Coast a first-time rating of B1 with a positive outlook, citing high growth prospects, but also flagged its low per capita income and weak institutional strength.
Moody's also assigned the B1 rating to the country's planned $500 million bond, the agency said in a statement published on its website on Tuesday.
Ivory Coast is emerging from a decade-long political crisis that ended in a brief 2011 civil war and its economy - French-speaking West Africa's largest - is in the midst of a revival, with GDP growth of around 9 percent expected for this year.
The government of President Alassane Ouattara is investing heavily in renewing long-neglected infrastructure.
The bond, expected to be issued this month, will mark Ivory Coast's first venture onto the international capital markets since it defaulted on its previous Eurobond during the war three years ago.
The government resumed coupon payments on the defaulted $2.5 billion Eurobond, which matures in 2032, after securing $4 billion in debt relief in June 2012 under an IMF-World Bank scheme. It has since emerged as one of non-oil producing Africa's best-performing credits.
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