The stock of Zambia's largest private sector employer, Glencore, slumped in the market this week, dragging the already struggling Zambian currency into further crisis. The Zambian kwacha has declined 48 percent against the dollar this year, the most of the over 150 currencies tracked by Bloomberg. An electricity shortage and weak copper prices have put pressure on Zambia's mining industry, prompting Glencore—a commodity trading and mining corporation— to suspend some mining operations until 2017, thus threatening output, jobs, and economic growth. Citing these concerns, this week Moody's Investors Service cut its rating for Zambia by one step to B2, five levels below investment grade. The finance ministry urged investors to ignore the "unsolicited" credit downgrade by Moody's, arguing that the country only has rating relationships with Fitch Ratings Ltd. and Standard & Poor's.