Fitch Cuts Saudi Credit Rating over Oil Price Fall

Fitch Ratings on Tuesday lowered the long-term credit rating of Saudi Arabia because of the negative impact of lower oil prices on the world's biggest crude exporter.

The agency "has downgraded Saudi Arabia's long-term foreign and local currency" ratings to AA- from AA, it said, adding the outlook remains negative.

It said it had revised downwards its oil price assumptions for this year and next, to $35 and $45 a barrel, which "has major negative implications for Saudi Arabia's fiscal and external balances".

In February another ratings giant, Standard and Poor's, cut the kingdom's credit rating by two notches, to A-.