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Sri Lanka’s sovereign credit ratings from Fitch, S&P and Moody’s — where they stand today and every move since 2005.
Investment-grade gap
6 notches
To BBB- / Baa3
Counted from Sri Lanka’s best current rating.
Upgraded on sharp improvements in fiscal and external balances and structural reforms. Fitch projects debt at 92.9% of GDP in 2026 and reserves at US$ 7.7 bn by year-end. Country ceiling raised to B-.
Affirmed. Moody’s projects debt at about 95% of GDP and over 580% of revenue in 2026, with interest absorbing more than 40% of revenue.
Affirmed on resilience to external shocks and strong revenue growth. Transfer & Convertibility assessment raised to B- from CCC+.
Affirmed at CCC+.
Raised from SD — S&P’s first upgrade since the crisis — on steady recovery, fast fiscal consolidation, IMF reform momentum and rebuilding reserves.
Upgraded three notches after the private-creditor bond restructuring concluded, reducing default risk on new bonds.
Upgraded out of default after the international sovereign bond exchange completed. Local-currency IDR also raised to CCC+.
Placed on review for upgrade when the government launched the international bond exchange offer.
Affirmed at RD.
Affirmed at RD.
Showing 1–10 of 70
| S&P | Fitch | Moody’s | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| AAA | AAA | Aaa | Prime Highest quality; default risk is negligible. |
| AA+ | AA+ | Aa1 | High grade Very strong capacity to repay. |
| AA | AA | Aa2 | |
| AA- | AA- | Aa3 | |
| A+ | A+ | A1 | Upper medium grade Strong capacity to repay, somewhat sensitive to bad times. |
| A | A | A2 | |
| A- | A- | A3 | |
| BBB+ | BBB+ | Baa1 | Lower medium grade Adequate capacity to repay. The lowest rung of investment grade. |
| BBB | BBB | Baa2 | |
| BBB- | BBB- | Baa3 | |
| BB+ | BB+ | Ba1 | Speculative ‘Junk’ begins here. Repayment is likely but exposed to shocks. |
| BB | BB | Ba2 | |
| BB- | BB- | Ba3 | |
| B+ | B+ | B1 | Highly speculative Currently paying, but a limited margin of safety against adverse conditions. |
| B | B | B2 | |
| B- | B- (Sri Lanka’s current rating) | B3 | |
| CCC+ (Sri Lanka’s current rating) | CCC+ | Caa1 (Sri Lanka’s current rating) | Substantial risk Default is a real possibility; repayment depends on favourable conditions. |
| CCC | CCC | Caa2 | Extremely speculative Very high default risk. |
| CCC- | CCC- | Caa3 | Near default Default is probable or imminent, with limited recovery prospects. |
| CC | CC | Ca | |
| C | C | C | |
| SD / D | RD / D | — | In default The issuer has missed payments on some or all of its debt. |
The smallest of the “Big Three”. Fitch introduced the AAA-to-D letter scale that S&P later adopted, and has a local arm, Fitch Ratings Lanka, that rates Sri Lankan banks and companies on a national scale.
Current
B-
Peak
BB-
8 Dec 2005
Lowest
RD
19 May 2022
Up / down moves
3 / 8
33 actions listed
How it rates a country
Fitch scores sovereigns on four pillars — structural features (governance, income, banking sector), macroeconomic performance, public finances, and external finances — through its Sovereign Rating Model, then a committee adds qualitative overlays of up to ±3 notches.
Reading its scale
Letter grades from AAA to D, with + and − modifiers from AA to B. ‘RD’ (Restricted Default) means the issuer has defaulted on some obligations but is still operating and has not entered formal bankruptcy — the grade Sri Lanka held from May 2022 until its bonds were restructured.
Long-term foreign-currency ratings, checked 23 Sep 2026. Fitch’s full rating history is pulled from Fitch’s official ratings service every week. S&P and Moody’s do not publish ratings openly, so their actions are picked up from news coverage and added once at least two outlets report the same rating; those rows are marked “News”. Sources: Fitch Ratings (official rating history, refreshed weekly); S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Ratings rating-action releases; EconomyNext, Newswire, Daily FT, Ada Derana and other coverage of each action.