S&P Global has downgraded the long-term credit ratings of three local banks, a few days after it cut its rating on Egypt’s sovereign debt deeper into junk, it said on Tuesday.

Who was on the cutting block? State-owned lenders National Bank of Egyptand Banque du Caire as well as the country’s largest private-sector bank CIB, all had their credit ratings downgraded to B- from B. The rating agency also revised its outlook to stable from negative, pointing to the possibility of the government delivering on structural reforms.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise: The rating agency does ”not rate financial institutions in Egypt above the foreign currency sovereign ratings,” it said. S&P downgraded our sovereign credit rating earlier this week, lowering its long-term rating to B- from B on the back of the FX shortage and rising uncertainties about debt sustainability.

The rationale: All three of the banks have high exposure to sovereign debt in turn exposing them to the government’s risky credit profile, the rating agency said.

ICYMI- Moody’s downgraded the same three banks credit ratings to Caa1 from B3 earlier this month.

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