January 25: The government is preparing to hand over the responsibility of the sovereign credit rating of Nepal to American credit company Fitch Ratings. This company has been involved in the sovereign credit rating of the USA.

This year, the company has lowered the USA’s credit rating from 'AAA' to 'AA'.

A triple-A rating is the highest rating given by the agency to a country or an institution based on their ability to repay the loan. This rating indirectly shows the company or the country's economic situation. Fitch Ratings had shown interest for rating Nepal since a long time.

Sources at the Ministry of Finance say that the government is preparing to hand over the responsibility of rating the country to Fitch Ratings as it will take a long time to begin a new process of selection of rating agency. The government had mentioned in the budget announcement five years ago that it will opt for the country’s sovereign credit rating. It took almost a year to find the donor for the rating. The government handed over the responsibility of rating to Fitch Ratings after DFIF pledged to financially support the credit rating of Nepal. However, the credit rating was halted due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic the same year as the government was apprehensive that the credit rating outcome would not be as expected due to the impact of the pandemic.

The government once again included the topic of credit rating in the budget this year. As per the budget announcement, the government has decided to give the responsibility to Fitch Ratings.