Brazil, Colombia and Peru may have to wait at least a year for Moody's Investors Service to raise their credit ratings because of fallout from U.S. sub-prime mortgage market declines, an analyst with the company said.

The three nations, Latin America's top candidates for investment-grade ratings, reduced public debt and foreign borrowing in the past five years, helped by growing Asian demand for their exports of metals, soybeans and other commodities.
The U.S. housing slump signals this period of global expansion is coming to an end, and Moody's wants to analyze how these nations will cope with tighter global credit markets before changing any ratings, said Mauro Leos, a senior sovereign analyst.
“2008 is a transition year,” Leos said in an interview today in Miami, where more than 1,000 bankers are gathered for the Federation of Latin American Banks conference. “Since there is so much uncertainty, we're unlikely to see any rating improvements in the short term.”
Mexican central bank Governor Guillermo Ortiz told the same conference yesterday U.S. bank losses from sub-prime mortgages may have a ‘significant’ impact on Latin America, slowing economies and credit growth in the region.
Moody's will monitor whether foreign investors will keep financing Brazil, Colombia and Peru by buying their local- currency bonds, Leos said.
While the nations have reduced borrowing in foreign currencies in the past few years, they still rely on international investors to meet their funding needs through local capital markets, he said.
Brazil's Treasury Department figures show that foreigners hold less than 5 percent of the government's domestic debt.
(Source: Bloomberg)