China Development Bank says Moody’s China ratings cut has ‘limited impact’

China Development Bank Corp (CDB), one of the country’s largest bond issuers, said Moody’s Investors Service’s downgrade of China’s credit ratings has had ‘limited impact’ on fundraising by Chinese companies overseas.

“Funds are relatively abundant in the international market and the supply of high-quality bonds falls short of demand,” the state-owned bank said in a statement to Reuters.

“Yields on bonds by Chinese issuers are more attractive than those of other emerging market issuers.”

Moody’s last month downgraded China’s credit ratings for the first time in nearly 30 years, to A1 from A3, reflecting its growing concern that China’s financial strength is fading amid a ballooning debt pile

CDB, the biggest policy bank in the country, said that China’s government has ‘effectively lowered debt risks’ by implementing local government debt swaps, a de-leveraging campaign, and disposing non-performing loans in the banking sector.

The one-notch downgrade in long-term local and foreign currency issuer ratings “lacked sufficient estimates about China’s supply-side reforms and the impact of stabilising economic growth”, CDB said in the statement.

Financial regulators in Hong Kong, Singapore and Europe so far haven’t made “substantial adjustment” to regulatory requirements, such as high-quality liquidity assets (HQLA), following the Moody’s ratings cut, CDB said.