S&P Global Ratings raised Poland's sovereign credit ratings, citing the country's strong economic growth and budgetary outcomes that exceeded expectations.

Poland's long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating was upgraded to A- from BBB+, and its long-term local currency sovereign credit rating was raised to A from A-. The outlook on the ratings is stable.

S&P also raised Poland's short-term local currency sovereign credit rating to A-1 from A-2, and affirmed the A-2 short-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating.

"The upgrade reflects Poland's strong track record of balanced economic growth and fiscal prudence, as well as the diversity and competitiveness of its economy," S&P said, citing the country's exports and services sectors as major growth contributors.

The rating agency expects Poland to record real GDP expansion of 4.8% in 2018, following average growth of more than 4% since 2016.

Poland's expansion is projected to slow down to 3.4% in 2019, S&P said, but the economy is still likely to grow by more than 3% through 2021.

S&P expects Poland to post a general government deficit of less than 1% of economic output this year, beating a target of 2.1% of GDP.

"[W]e think it will likely achieve next year's 1.8% of GDP deficit target, even against a background of slowing growth," S&P said.

In upgrading Poland's ratings, S&P also cited the continued decline in Poland's public and external debt as a percentage of GDP.

Separately, Fitch Ratings affirmed Poland's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating at A- with a stable outlook.

This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings, a separately managed division of S&P Global. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings. The original S&P Global Ratings documents referred to in this news brief can be found here.