"Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) has today downgraded the government of Turkey's long-term issuer ratings to B1 from Ba3 and has maintained the negative outlook," the financial ratings agency said in a report on Friday.
Turkey’s senior unsecured bond ratings and senior unsecured shelf ratings have also been downgraded to B1 and (P)B1 respectively from Ba3 and (P)Ba3, the report added.
Also, "Moody's has downgraded to B1 from Ba3 the backed senior unsecured bond ratings of Hazine Mustesarligi Varlik Kiralama AS, a special purpose vehicle wholly owned by… from which the Turkish Treasury issues sukuk lease certificates, and has maintained the negative outlook," the agency said.
The downgrade expresses Moody’s assessment view that the risk of a balance of payments crisis in Turkey continues to rise with the concurrent danger of a government default, the report explained.