SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Global credit appraiser Standard & Poor's on Monday raised its long-term sovereign credit rating on South Korea by one notch to AA from AA-minus, keeping its outlook on the rating at stable.
S&P Global Ratings said in an e-mailed press release that the upgrade is based on South Korea's strong track record of steady economic growth that has generated a prosperous economy, greater fiscal and monetary flexibility, and continual improvements in external conditions.
Although South Korea's growth in the next three to five years will be slower than its growth before the 2008 global financial crisis, the rating agency expected Seoul's prospects would be superior to those of most developed economies.
Seoul's finance ministry said that the rating upgrade came 11 months after S&P revised up South Korea's sovereign rating by one notch in September last year.
The AA, the third-highest in S&P's rating tier, was the highest that South Korea has ever received from S&P, the ministry said.
In December last year, Moody's revised up South Korea's sovereign rating to Aa2, the equivalent of S&P's AA rating.
