NEW YORK: American financial service company Standard & Poor’s (S&P) issued war-torn Iraq a credit rating for the first time on Thursday, with the country’s conflict with Islamic State militants and low oil prices giving it a junk score.

Iraq has been plagued by war and violence since the 2003 US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Currently violent jihadists have taken over large parts of the country, something Standard & Poor’s took into account when it handed out its B- rating.

‘Iraq faces security and institutional risks that are among the highest of all rated sovereigns — stemming primarily from its war with ISIS’, the agency said in a press release using another acronym for IS.