World Bulletin/News Desk

Fitch Ratings was the first in November 2012 to raise Turkey to investment grade, and expectations were high that a second rating agency such as Moody's or the S&P would give the country a similar boost.

Hans Blommestein, head of the Bond Market and Public Debt Management Unit at the OECD, said on May 8, the Fitch upgrade of the country's long-term foreign debt to BBB- from BB+ was long expected after years of sub-investment assessments and it arrived a bit late, adding "Sometimes I find it quite difficult to understand the logic of rating agencies. I am a staunch supporter of more upgrade in Turkey's ratings."

Following Fitch, credit rating agency Moody's upgraded Turkey's rating on May 16 by one notch to 'investment grade' Baa3 from Ba1, and assigned a stable outlook.

Moody's showed the reason of upgrading Turkey's rating as "recent and expected future improvements in key economic and public finance metrics."

"Moody's decision to assign a stable outlook on Turkey's ratings reflects the rating agency's expectation of continued prudence in the management of public finances and sustained momentum behind current structural and institutional reforms" said Moody's in a statement.

Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said he expected greater investments with Moody's recent upgrade.

Speaking at the 4th Sarajevo Business Forum in Bosnia-Herzegovina on May 17, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said Turkey would attract new investors following Moody's upgrading Turkey's rating to "investible level".

"Turkey deserves a much higher rating," said Babacan reminding the country's paying off International Money Fund (IMF) debts.

Upon Moody's upgrade to Turkey, Germany's high-circulation newspaper Bild praised Turkey's economy and said that the World Bank projections expected 2013 growth in Turkey to stand around 4 percent.

The daily pointed out the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party had made serious reforms in financial sector as well as in the social system since it came into power in 2002.

Another upgrade from Moody's came on May 22 to Housing Development Administration of Turkey's (TOKI) global and national scale credit rating.

Moody's Investors Service upgraded TOKI's credit rating from Ba1/A1 to Baa3/Aa3, saying the upgrade reflected TOKI's current financial situation and its success in carrying out investment programs.

Following Moody's, Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) on Thursday raised Turkey's credit rating two notches to investment grade to follow suit with its American and European counterparts.

JCR raised Turkey's Foreign Currency Long-Term Issuer Rating to BBB- from BB and confirmed the country's outlook at stable.

"Turkey has successfully weathered challenges of highly adverse international economic environment from the Lehman Shock through the European sovereign debt crisis. Increased net export and lowered unemployment rate in 2012 suggest strength of its growth potential, despite dropped GDP growth rate itself. The level of national income has always been far greater than those of Asian emerging economies," JCR said in a statement.

Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan hailed the JCR revision, saying the move would open the way for boosted foreign investments in the country.

"The structural reforms we made, our strong fiscal and monetary policies and macro-cautionary measures helped us weather the global crisis. Recent rating upgrades by three international credit rating agencies show our performance in economic growth and employment," Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said in a statement on May 23.

The last upgrade is from Canada's international credit rating agency Dominion Bond Rating Service (DBRS). The agency upgraded on May 23 Turkey's long-term foreign currency credit rating to BBB, investment grade.

The upgradings of Moody's last week, as well as JCR's and DBRS's are the confirmation of the success of our economic policies, said Turkish Deputy PM Babacan.