Moody's hikes Greece

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded Greece's long-term local-currency and foreign-currency issuer ratings to Ba1 from Ba3, the local-currency senior unsecured ratings to Ba1 from Ba3 and the foreign-currency senior unsecured shelf and medium-note program ratings to (P)Ba1 from (P)Ba3. The agency changed the outlook to stable from positive.

“The two-notch upgrade reflects Moody's view that the Greek economy, public finances, institutions, and the banking system are witnessing profound structural change that will support a continued material improvement in credit metrics and resilience to future potential shocks. In particular, the government's parliamentary majority following the June elections provides a high degree of political and policy certainty for the coming four years, fostering the ongoing implementation of past reforms and the design of further structural reforms, which supports Moody's expectation for further economic and fiscal strengthening,” the agency said in a press release.

The outlook balances the positive trends against structural challenges, which could pressure Greece's credit profile more than currently assumed, including a comparatively low, but growing investment rate, a sizeable current-account deficit, the still high government debt burden, and other economic and fiscal challenges from aging and climate change, Moody’s noted.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.