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

铁道部获评大公国际AAA评级

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.

大公国际资信评估公司给予铁道部的主体长期信用级别为AAA级，遭致公众对其公信力的质疑。7月23日的甬温铁路追尾事故后铁道部饱受质疑。

此前大公国际发布了《2010五十个国家信用等级报告》，对中国本币给出的信用评级为AA＋。

大公的AAA评级未能使铁道部吃下定心丸，反而按大公国际评级标准，AAA级表示债务人具有非常强的还本付息能力。购买这类债券几乎没风险。就在2011年中工作会议上，刘明康也表示要给银行拉响警报：即便铁路贷款每年可还60亿左右利息，何年何月才能还得了一万多亿本金？

在美国也存在这种公司比美国政府主权评级还要高的情况。“在标准普尔下调了美国政府的主权债务评级后，全美也有4家公司(微软、埃克森美孚、强生和薪酬服务公司)的债务评级超过了美国政府，但是这些公司和铁道部明显不同，具有很强的盈利能力。”一位券商债券分析师向记者称。

8日，铁道部以5.55%的利率发行了3月期的超短融。铁道部此次3月期超短融的中标利率为5.55%，比以往铁道部的短期融资券利率要高。