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[Jonathan Fairfield]

Citi and StanChart set to advise Myanmar on first credit rating

By Lawrence White

HONG KONG, July 17 (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc and Standard Chartered Plc are set to advise Myanmar on its first credit rating, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter, paving the way for the country to issue its maiden international bond.

After decades of isolation from international capital markets under military rule, Myanmar faces a widening current account deficit that could be bridged by borrowing once it has a credit rating from agencies such as Fitch, Moody's or Standard & Poor's.

None of the big three agencies have currently assigned Myanmar a rating, which professional investors use as a benchmark of a country's ability to repay debt.

"Getting a credit rating is of the first importance for Myanmar, helping it to clean up its public finances," said Sean Turnell, a professor at Macquarie University in Sydney who has advised the U.S. Congress on Myanmar's economy.

"It's also important symbolically, sending the signal the country is...not the land of caprice it was so often in the past."

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/17/myanmar-rating-idUSL4N0ZX06M20150717