DUBAI (Bloomberg) — Dubai World's debt reorganisation is unlikely to hurt sovereign credit ratings of the United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi since assets at that sheikhdom's wealth fund exceed the country's debt, Moody's Investors Service said.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the emirate's sovereign wealth fund, has assets amounting to more than twice the value of the sheikhdom's economic output, Moody's said today, citing "verbal assurances" from the government this month.

"ADIA's foreign assets alone are considerably greater than the external liabilities of the country, even according to pessimistic estimates," Tristan Cooper, a Dubai-based Middle East sovereign analyst at Moody's, wrote in the report. The report didn't quantify the UAE's external debt.

Dubai has said it will raise as much as $20 billion selling bonds to repay borrowings. It said last week that state-run Dubai World, with $59 billion of liabilities, would ask creditors for a "standstill" agreement as it negotiates to extend debt maturities.

The effect of the reorganisation on the segments of the country's economy not linked to the oil industry "could potentially be severe," Moody's wrote. Dubai, accounting for about a third of the UAE's overall economy, "will be impacted heavily," according to the report.

Moody's rates Abu Dhabi and the UAE federal government Aa2, the third-highest investment grade rating, with a stable outlook, according to the report.

Moody's said ADIA's assets are at least $284 billion, citing official data, putting Abu Dhabi's gross domestic product at about $142 billion. Foreign assets held by the central bank, other wealth funds and the state-run oil producer will also back Abu Dhabi's spending power, the report said.