S&P might upgrade RI rating

S&P might upgrade RI rating

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (Dow Jones): Standard & Poor's Corp. could upgrade Indonesia's debt ratings within the next few months, according to an official at the ratings firm.

Takahira Ogawa, the chief Asian sovereign credit analyst at S&P, told a seminar Sunday that Indonesia's rating could be lifted to triple-C or single-B within a few months.

Currently, Indonesia is rated as "selective default," meaning it has had defaults.

In brief comments at an Asian Development Bank-related seminar, Ogawa said his immediate concerns about Indonesia are political and economic.

He said political stability cannot be taken for granted. And he said reforms in the financial sector have been at a "slow and uncertain pace."