Bulgaria recently welcomed positive developments in its credit rating, with rating agency S&P Global Ratings changing the country’s outlook from stable to positive and affirming several of its credit ratings.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Finance announced S&P’s confidence in a press release on the positive developments. The country’s long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings will remain at BB+/B, according to the release. The positive outlook signals the agency’s belief that Bulgaria will see further favorable developments within the next year.

Bulgaria’s recent economic growth is spurred by its external and fiscal performance, with a more export-driven economy than the country has had in the past. S&P cited fiscal and external metrics in its decision to upgrade Bulgaria’s rating outlook and expressed its belief that those metrics will continue to improve.

Bulgaria faces some challenges, such as net emigration and an aging society, but S&P thinks that Bulgaria will continue its economic recovery in the coming year, seeing growth through both net exports and domestic demand. The agency also pointed to public investment and improvements in the labor market as forces that are likely to push positive developments in Bulgaria’s credit rating this year.