Government's payments to credit rating agencies increased three-fold in five years

In the past three years, the government has been forking out payments to credit rating agencies which are triple the amount paid in 2013.

In 2018, the government paid €237,502. This figure is slightly lower than that of the previous two years, when the government had forked out €248,697 and €243,883 respectively.

These figures were tabled in parliament by Finance Minister Edward Scicluna on Wednesday afternoon in reply to a question posed by PN MP Jason Azzopardi.

Credit rating agencies are independent companies that assign ratings that reflect the ability of a debtor to pay back debt.

The tabled information did not include the relative details and names of the agencies which were paid by the government but Scicluna said that Malta has been making such payments since the year 2000.

In recent years, the government has used the ratings by a number of such agencies, including those by world-renowned agencies like Fitch Ratings, DBRS, Moody’s and Standard and Poors.