Three Jamaican infrastructure entities have had their credit ratings upgraded following Jamaica’s sovereign credit rating upgrade by S&P Global Ratings.

Kingston Airport Revenue Finance Limited (King Air) and Montego Bay Airport Revenue Finance Limited (MOAIR) had their credit ratings upgraded from BB to BB+ with a stable outlook on Tuesday. This comes days after Jamaica’s sovereign credit rating was upgraded from BB– to BB with a positive outlook last Thursday.

“Following the sovereign’s upgrade, we raised the rating on KingAir and MoAir to ‘BB+’, which is one notch above the sovereign rating, reflecting our confidence in its ability to withstand a hypothetical sovereign stress scenario. This includes a 10 per cent decline in air passenger volume, a 5 per cent increase in O&M (operation and maintenance) costs due to CPI, flat tariffs, and a 50 per cent depreciation of the domestic currency against the US dollar,” stated S&P Global in their latest updates.

The rating agency also highlighted that both entities had strong cash resources and fully funded offshore cash debt service reserve accounts covering the next six months’ worth of interest payments. However, King Air’s rating is capped by Jamaica’s transfer and convertibility (T&C) assessment which was upgraded to BB+ last week while MOAIR’s rating is capped by S&P Global’s view of the operational risk. The transfer and convertibility assessment refers to the risk that a government may impose restrictions that limit the movement of local currencies into foreign currencies.

King Air and MOAIR are special purpose vehicles that were set up to allow the Government of Jamaica to monetise the concessionary fees it receives through Airports Authority of Jamaica in relation to the Norman Manley International Airport and Sangster International Airport. King Air raised US$480 million ($75.44 billion) in September 2024 while MOAIR raised US$400 million ($63.76 billion) in July 2025. The King Air bond has a 6.75 per cent interest rate and is set to mature in December 2036 while the MOAIR bond pays a 6.60 per cent interest rate and has a June 2035 maturity date.

The proceeds from the King Air raise went towards paying down some debt and funding some budgetary items like the $11.40 billion one-time reverse income tax credit and $45-billion Shared Prosperity Through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network (SPARK) programme. The proceeds from the MOAIR raise are to be used in certain infrastructure projects such as financing of certain water infrastructure projects to increase access to potable water, promoting small and medium enterprises across the country, and improving health facilities and equipment.

Despite some of the constraints mentioned by S&P Global Ratings, King Air’s credit rating can be increased over the next 12 months if Jamaica’s credit rating was to be upgraded and the T&C assessment revised to BBB–. MOAIR’s credit rating could also be upgraded if the same factors mentioned were to take place along with the stand-alone credit profile of MOAIR going to bbb- or higher.

TransJamaican Highway Limited also had its credit rating upgraded BB to BB– with a positive outlook. However, the highway company’s rating is capped by Jamaica’s sovereign rating. TJH’s stand-alone credit profile could also be downgraded if S&P Global Rating was to lower the rating on National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (BB-/Stable/B), its main bank account provider.

“The positive outlook aligns with the sovereign outlook, with potential for an upgrade if we were to raise our rating in Jamaica, contingent on sustained policy framework strengthening. The positive outlook also incorporates our expectation that the road’s traffic volume will align with our GDP growth expectation for Jamaica in the next 12-24 months, allowing the project to maintain a minimum DSCR (debt service coverage ratio) above 3.0x,” stated S&P Global.