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S&P says that it might lower El Salvador’s rating in 6 to 18 months.

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Ratings said on Friday that it could lower El Salvador’s already low credit rating within six to 18 months if it doesn’t make “adequate progress” on reducing its debt. This comes just days after the government announced plans to buy back sovereign bonds.

El Salvador’s “CCC-plus” rating, which is seven notches below “investment grade” and into “non-investment speculative grade” territory, was kept by S&P four days after the country’s government said it would buy back up to $360 million worth of two sovereign bonds at prices just slightly above market prices.

Related: The S&P/ASX 200 is down 1.52% at the end of trading in Australia.

On Monday, El Salvador made an offer for a bond that would be paid off in 2023 or 2025.

S&P said in a statement, “We think the debt repurchase was a good idea and similar to a liability management operation.” This is because the government could have met its financial obligations in the near future without this transaction.

The ratings agency said there was at least a “one-in-three” chance of a downgrade if the government didn’t make significant progress on its debt or if there were any questions about its willingness to pay.

Thursday, Fitch downgraded El Salvador’s government debt from “CCC” to “CC,” which means that a default is likely.

S&P said it thought the government could pay its debt service payments over the next year, but it also said that investor confidence could be hurt by delays in getting money and corrective fiscal measures.

It said that the ratings showed that policy responses have been hard to predict for a long time, that the economy isn’t doing well, that investment is low, and that there isn’t much room for change because the economy is based on the U.S. dollar. This has been true since El Salvador made Bitcoin and the U.S. dollar both legal tender.

Related: Australia’s stock market is up at the end of the day; the S&P/ASX 200 is up 0.21.

President Nayib Bukele, who led the effort to accept Bitcoin, said Thursday that he will run for re-election in 2024, even though the Constitution says presidents can’t serve more than two terms.

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