Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) has assigned a first-time A1 long-term issuer rating and a Baa1 Baseline Credit Assessment to the Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) in recognition to its financial stability.
This was announced by Kahramaa through a press statement yesterday.
This is the first time Moody’s has assigned a rating to Kahramaa, the statement said, adding that the strong financial performance and its transformation into a financially sustainable enterprise resulted in the recognition.
Moody’s expected that the demand for electricity would increase by about 5% and water by about 4% annually during the next five years, in light of the overall development taking place in the country.
Moody’s noted Kahramaa’s ability to fulfil its obligations towards meeting the growth in the demand for electricity and water, in view of the implemented electricity network expansion projects in Qatar and the major strategic Water Security Mega Reservoirs Project, the statement explained.
Kahramaa president Issa bin Hilal al-Kuwari said the achievement reflected the success of Kahramaa’s plans based on financial sustainability.
“It also confirms the strong financial performance achieved by Kahramaa in light of the high rating of the Qatari economy and the support and direction of our government, which Moody’s relied upon when Kahramaa was rated,” he noted.
He added that Moody’s high rating for Kahramaa leads to “a new commitment, which is to continue to work to enhance financial sustainability and continue to improve operating efficiency and rationalise costs across the organisation’s operations by adopting a number of initiatives”.
Al-Kuwari said that it also highlights Kahramaa’s distinguished performance from the financial point of view.
“The corporation is successful in fulfilling its obligations in providing sustainable and high-quality electricity and water. It has a key role to play in the development projects witnessed by Qatar by providing advanced infrastructure that confirms the development of the electricity and water sector in Qatar,” al-Kuwari said, stressing the directives of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
Moody’s also suggested that the internal financial flows of the corporation are sufficient to cover the expected investments during the coming period, which the agency estimated during the next five years to be about QR30bn.
Source:gulf-times.com
