S&P lowers Mozambique sovereign credit rating to B from B+

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Standard and Poor's Ratings Services lowered Mozambique's long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit rating to B from B+ on Friday, with a stable outlook. The ratings agency said the downgrade reflects Mozambique's higher fiscal deficits and faster debt accumulation compared with S&P's expectations. "Mozambique's external commercial borrowing increased in 2013," S&P said in a statement. "We now estimate the average change in general government debt will be a high of 8.8 percent of GDP over 2014-2017, compared with 4 percent over 2010-2013."