Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP Group), Croatia's national energy company, stated on Monday that the Standard and Poor's (S&P) agency had upgraded HEP's long-term rating from BBB- to BBB, with the stable outlook.

This improvement ensues after and the sovereign rating of the Republic of Croatia as HEP’s owner to BBB+, reads the HEP press release.

This global credit rating agency believes that the capacity of Croatia to support Hrvatska elektroprivreda, if necessary, has been amplified.

On 14 July, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Global Ratings raised its long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Croatia to ‘BBB+/A-2’ from ‘BBB-/A-3’, saying that the country will benefit from accession to the euro area and its economic growth will remain steady. The outlook is stable.

S&P says that the stable outlook reflects its expectation that Croatia’s economic growth will remain steady over the coming two years despite rising inflation and the economic consequences of the conflict in Ukraine.