DUBAI WORLD UNCERTAINTY HAS NO IMMEDIATE EFFECT ON ASIAN GOVT-RELATED RATINGS

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 (Bernama) -- The uncertainty surrounding the
restructuring of Dubai World's liabilities has no immediate consequences for
Asian government-related ratings, according to Moody's in its latest Weekly
Credit Outlook.

While many of the biggest companies and issuers of debt in Asia are
government related, it said that firstly, there was no evidence of any of these
government-related issuers (GRIs) having imminent and material credit
issues, let alone any of the large issuers that might pose systemic threats.

In all, there are 82 such entities across Asia with 60 distributed across
emerging markets in Asia.

"Seventy-one per cent of them have standalone investment-grade ratings
before we even consider the possibility of rating uplift from government
support," the global rating house said.

It said that most of these are long established names regarded as
"blue-chip" borrowers in their own right with strong market access in both
domestic and regional bond and bank markets, citing examples such as Singapore
Power, Malaysia's national petroleum company Petronas, China Mobile and South
Korea's KEPCO.

Of the remainder, Moody's said 10 per cent were South Korean GRIs with
policy functions and funding ties so close to the government that they were
attributed the same A2 stable rating held by the government itself.

Secondly, the rating house said, there was no evidence of systemic stresses
building in any one country in the emerging markets of Asia in a way similar to
Dubai.

Among countries in the region, Singapore and South Korea are the most
obvious that have large GRIs with arguably similar corporatist strategies
similar in some ways to those in Dubai, wherein the boundaries between the roles
of government and private enterprise can be fluid.

But one is rated Aaa stable and the other A2 stable, and both economies are
recovering strongly.

Further, the rated GRIs in Singapore are owned by Temasek, which is rated
Aaa on a standalone basis before considering support from its government owner.

"So, we see the risk of a systemic crisis as extremely unlikely in either
country, or indeed any other in any other Asian country," Moody's said.

Finally, few GRI ratings in Asia benefit from substantial uplift in their
ratings due to implicit government support, it said.

Moody's said only 17 per cent of its ratings or six names in emerging market
Asia have uplift of more than two notches reflecting support assumptions.

They include large, structurally important companies such as Singapore
Power, KCRC in Hong Kong and, ironically, Singapore's PSA group, a port operator
and competitor to Dubai Ports World, which is a subsidiary company of Dubai
World and sister company of Dubai-based Nakheel.

"We see no reason to change the support assumptions for these companies for
now. The role they play, the track record of government support and the relative
transparency around ownership, funding, governance continue to justify higher
levels of implied support than for most GRIs," it said.
-- BERNAMA