BEIJING - Dagong Global Credit Rating Co Ltd, China's domestic rating agency, decided Thursday to maintain the local and foreign currency sovereign credit ratings of Austria and the Republic of Sudan, keeping them at AA+ with a stable outlook and C with a stable outlook, respectively.

Steady economic recovery, stronger profitability in the banking sector and the narrowing gap between the government's revenues and expenditures helped the Austrian government maintain strong solvency, the rating agency said.

However, relatively high dependence on the eurozone economy, as well as default risks in the banking sector, could constrain country's ability to improve solvency, the agency said.

Dagong said a sharp decline in oil resource reserves and output has created a negative impact on the Sudanese economy.

Plenty of uncertainties remain over Sudan's future national security and economic adjustment, leaving the central government's solvency at an extremely low level, Dagong said.

Dagong predicted that with the overall slowdown of the European economy, the Austrian economy will grow at a low rate of 0.8 percent in 2012.

It also predicted that the Sudanese economy will grow by 2 percent over the next one to two years, far below the average level of 4.2 percent for the last two years.