Three Companies Asked To Participate In Bidding To Prepare Bangladesh's Sovereign Rating

Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) -The central bank of Bangladesh has asked three companies to submit bid documents by June 30 aiming to prepare the country's credit rating, officials in Dhaka on Wednesday.

The companies are: Japan Credit Rating Agency Limited, Moody's Singapore and Standard & Poor's International, LLC.

A pre-bid meeting will be held on May 22 between the concerned authorities of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country's central bank, and the representatives of the international credit rating companies to discuss matters relating to tender documents.

"We will select two from three credit rating agencies to prepare a credit rating report," a BB senior official told AHN Media Corporation in the capital, Dhaka.

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), Citibank N.A, and Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Limited have showed interest to help the authorities concerned in preparation of such rating document.

The central bank of Bangladesh earlier took the move to prepare the country's credit rating report to help mobilize funds from overseas sources and attract foreign investment.

"Both public and private sectors can take advantage of receiving loans from overseas sources at lower interest rates once the country's credit rating is done," another BB official told AHN Media Corporation.

The country will need to have credit rating if the government wants to float bonds in foreign currency, because investors, particularly the foreign ones, evaluate such rating before their investment.