Fitch Ratings affirmed the International Finance Facility for Immunisation’s (IFFIm) Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘AAA’ with a Negative Outlook and Short-term IDR at ‘F1+’.

RATING RATIONALE
The affirmation is largely based on the strong support and committed grant payments from IFFIm’s donor countries, and particularly from its two largest donors, the UK (‘AAA’/Negative) and France (‘AAA’/Negative). Other donors include the government of Australia (‘AAA’/Stable), Italy (‘A-‘/Negative), the Netherlands (‘AAA’/Stable), Norway (‘AAA’/Stable), South Africa (‘BBB+’/Negative), Spain (‘BBB’/Negative) and Sweden (‘AAA’/Stable). Support from donors is strong because of their high overall credit quality and the legally binding nature of donors’ commitments. In Fitch’s opinion, repudiation of these commitments would impose severe reputational damage.

Funds raised by IFFIm on the financial markets are disbursed as grants to GAVI, a global health partnership committed to improving access to immunisation for children in impoverished countries, which in turn distributes them to recipient countries. IFFIm has enjoyed strong participation from the international community. The number of donor countries has increased to nine from six since its creation in 2006. IFFIm’s resources essentially consist of grants, which have been pledged by donors at inception, and are disbursed over a period of up to 23 years.   They also include interest on funds raised on the market and held in trust as a liquidity buffer. New pledges have been received since then, including USD144m from Australia and Italy in 2011. At end-June 2011, the fair value of pledges receivable amounted to USD3.4bn; based on end-October 2012 figures. The UK is the largest contributor, with 47.5% of total pledges, followed by France, with 27.4%.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/14/idUSWLB239220121214