The MOR issued on Monday 20 billion yuan of three-month commercial papers in the interbank market, the first bond sale since the train crash.

Dagong assigns AAA rating to Ministry of Railway

鐵道部獲評大公國際AAA評級

Chinese rating agency Dagong has assigned an AAA rating to the country's Ministry of Railway, stirring up doubts about Dagong's credibility because the ministry has come under public fire after the July 23 Wenzhou train crash.

Last month Dagong released its sovereign credit rating report of 50 countries, in which China was given an AA+ for local currency debt and AAA for foreign currency debt.

According to Dagong's rating standards, an AAA rating means the issuer has a very strong capacity to pay its financial commitments. But China Banking Regulatory Commission Chairman Liu Mingkang last week warned domestic banks of risks in lending to railway networks. Even with the MOR paying back about 6 billion yuan each year, it'll take "forever" for them to repay the principal of more than 1 trillion yuan, Liu said.

There are also companies in the U.S. with ratings higher than the U.S. sovereign credit rating, a bond analyst told the 21st Century Business Herald. "After Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S. credit rating, four U.S. companies (Microsoft, Exxon Mobil, Johnson & Johnson and Automatic Data Processing) were assigned higher debt ratings than the U.S. government," said the analyst. "But these companies are markedly different from the MOR because they all have strong repayment capacity."

The MOR issued on Monday 20 billion yuan of three-month commercial papers in the interbank market, the first bond sale since the train crash. The ministry promised a return of 5.55 percent, higher than those of its previous short-term bills.

大公國際資信評估公司給予鐵道部的主體長期信用級別為AAA級，遭致公眾對其公信力的質疑。7月23日的甬溫鐵路追尾事故后鐵道部飽受質疑。

此前大公國際發布了《2010五十個國家信用等級報告》，對中國本幣給出的信用評級為AA＋。

大公的AAA評級未能使鐵道部吃下定心丸，反而按大公國際評級標準，AAA級表示債務人具有非常強的還本付息能力。購買這類債券幾乎沒風險。就在2011年中工作會議上，劉明康也表示要給銀行拉響警報：即便鐵路貸款每年可還60億左右利息，何年何月才能還得了一萬多億本金？

在美國也存在這種公司比美國政府主權評級還要高的情況。“在標準普爾下調了美國政府的主權債務評級后，全美也有4家公司(微軟、埃克森美孚、強生和薪酬服務公司)的債務評級超過了美國政府，但是這些公司和鐵道部明顯不同，具有很強的盈利能力。”一位券商債券分析師向記者稱。

8日，鐵道部以5.55%的利率發行了3月期的超短融。鐵道部此次3月期超短融的中標利率為5.55%，比以往鐵道部的短期融資券利率要高。