YEREVAN, June 9. /ARKA/. Having an assessment of an international credit rating agency is important for a company wishing to attract foreign capital, and Armenian companies should seek this too, Konstantin Saroyan,  the  director of NASDAQ OMX Armenia stock exchange said today.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the first ever Fitch Ratings conference in Yerevan, he said having healthy capital markets is a key requirement for sustainable economic growth – and healthy capital markets require information and transparency.

In his words, credit rating agencies play an important role in providing information that aids transparency and market efficiency, thereby reducing the imbalance of information that often exists between buyers and sellers.

According to Saroyan, it is time for Armenian companies to have the ratings too  because ‘our markets are opening to foreign markets and investors.’

No foreign investor will conduct an independent rating or assessment of  a country or company, he said, adding, however, that an assessment of a credit  rating agency can not replace an audit or inspection.

"Fitch assigns ratings  to Armenia as a country and two banks, however, we must have as many banks and companies as possible to have the assessments  of international credit rating agencies,’ he said.

Fitch Ratings is conducting its first conference in Armenia, being attended by representatives of the public and corporate sectors. The main objective of the conference is to tell  Armenian public and private sectors what Fitch Ratings is.

Earlier this year Fitch Ratings agency downgraded Armenia’s long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) from ‘BB-‘ to ‘B+’, with outlook kept stable.

The issue ratings on Armenia's senior unsecured foreign and local currency bonds was  downgraded to 'B+' from 'BB-'. The Country Ceiling was revised to 'BB-' from 'BB' and the Short-term foreign currency IDR affirmed at 'B.' -0-