DUSHANBE, October 17, 2014, Asia-Plus -- The National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) yesterday signed an agreement with the U.S. credit rating agency, Standard & Poor''s Financial Services LLC (S&P).

An official source at Tajik central bank says the NBT is expanding cooperation with internationally known credit agencies for the purpose of promoting development of the investment climate in the country.

According to him, the NBT is currently also carrying out negotiations on signing of a similar agreement with Moody''s Investor Service.

A credit rating is an evaluation of the credit worthiness of a debtor, especially a business (company) or a government, but not individual consumers.  The evaluation is made by a credit rating agency of the debtor''s ability to pay back the debt and the likelihood of default.  Evaluations of individuals'' credit worthiness are known as credit reporting and done by credit bureaus, or consumer credit reporting agencies, which issue credit scores.

Credit ratings are determined by credit ratings agencies.  The credit rating represents the credit rating agency''s evaluation of qualitative and quantitative information for a company or government; including non-public information obtained by the credit rating agencies'' analysts.

Standard & Poor''s Financial Services LLC (S&P) is an American financial services company.  It is a division of McGraw Hill Financial that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks and bonds.  S&P is known for its stock market indices such as the U.S.-based S&P 500, the Canadian S&P/TSX, and the Australian S&P/ASX 200.  S&P is considered one of the Big Three credit-rating agencies, which also include Moody''s Investor Service and Fitch Ratings.  Its head office is located in New York City.