Fitch upgraded Ireland’s rating, which was another evidence of the country’s advancement after the European Union provided its financial assistance 14 years ago.

The mentioned rating has been upgraded one notch to AA from AA- with a stable outlook. The relevant information is contained in a message released by Fitch. In June last year, this agency raised Ireland’s outlook to positive. At that time, experts noted a significant budget surplus in the country as part of commenting on their decision.

In a report published this week, Fitch said that Ireland has been demonstrating very high budget performance since 2022. The agency’s experts also expect that the corresponding trend will remain shortly.

Fitch’s decision puts Ireland on the third-highest grade, in line with a similar step taken by S&P Global Ratings a year ago. The country’s budget surplus is partly the result of corporate tax receipts collected from a disproportionately large number of multinational corporations based in this state. Irish Finance Minister Michael McGrath plans to use the revenues from mentioned companies, including Apple and Pfizer, to establish a sovereign wealth fund. Over the next 12 years, the specified fund is expected to grow to about 100 billion euros ($106 billion) and cover future costs such as population aging and climate change.

The mentioned multinational corporations sometimes distort output figures in Ireland.

The specified country’s gross domestic product decreased by 3.3% last year. The corresponding indicator is expected to grow by 0.9% this year. The corresponding forecast was published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

As we have reported earlier, Fitch Downgrades China’s Outlook.