S&P non solo downgrada, ma tiene la Grecia sotto osservazione per tagli ulteriori in caso le misure da adottare non si rivelino all'altezza della siatuazione, a quanto si intende... Non c'è ancora la rating action sul sito e sono di corsa...
- DECEMBER 16, 2009, 12:57 P.M. ET
S&P Downgrades Greece
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services downgraded Greece and warned more cuts could come, saying the nation's planned measures to reduce its high fiscal deficit were unlikely to lead to a sustainable reduction in the public debt burden.
Credit agencies have become increasingly pessimistic on Greece, which has a poor track record of debt management.
"We believe that the government's efforts to reform the public finances face domestic obstacles that would likely require sustained efforts over a number of years to overcome," warned analyst Marko Mrsnik.
Greece's government promised to cut its budget deficit radically over the next four years, reacting to pressure from financial markets as well as concerns about unsustainable public debts in the euro zone's weaker economies. Prime Minister George Papandreou on Monday said Greece would bring its ballooning deficit down from nearly 13% of gross domestic product this year to 3% in 2013, the maximum allowed under European Union rules.
The speech was met with skepticism by many economists and investors who said it contained few new concrete proposals to cut spending or raise more tax revenue -- and a downgrade by S&P was feared.
Markets responded calmly to the move, with the euro losing a bit of ground against the dollar. Jacob Oubina, currency strategist at Forex.com in Bedminster, N.J., said S&P's move to put Greece on watch for downgrade last week, along with Fitch Ratings' cut, had more impact on the euro.
On Wednesday, S&P lowered the nation's long-term sovereign credit rating by one notch to BBB+, or three notches into investment grade territory, and the ratings remain on watch for further downgrade. The new rating matches Fitch's cut, while
Moody's Investors Service has the rating three notches higher at A1.
S&P said due to higher revisions to its projections of Greece's debt and deficit levels, and the anticipated cost to the government of servicing those obligations, it saw Greece's fiscal flexibility "diminishing more than we had previously expected." S&P expects double-digit general government deficits as a percentage of gross domestic product this year and next to raise the debt burden sharply, to 126% of GDP in 2010 and around 138% in 2012.
The rating agency warned the nation could face further ratings cuts if the government wasn't able to gain political support to implement a credible medium-term fiscal consolidation program.
Greece thrived after adopting the euro in 2001. Rules for adopting the currency led to lower interest rates, which triggered consumer and housing booms. But the European nation has been buffeted by the fallout from the financial crisis. Shipping companies lost business, and though the economy grew until the first quarter of this year, it was hit this summer with falling tourism
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Ma possibile che l'indicizzato 2025, dopo gli scarichi di ieri, non abbia fatto nemmeno uno scambio...
