Moody's lowers Malta to A2

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded Malta's foreign-currency and local-currency government bond ratings to A2 from A1 and revised the outlook to negative.

The key drivers for the rating action are the lower medium-term economic growth rates, driven by a decline in potential output growth as a result of the 2008-09 financial crisis, thereby leaving the economy more vulnerable to further economic shocks; the country's weak debt metrics; and the expectation that even if debt ratios stabilize in the coming years, they are likely to remain above levels commensurate with an A1 rating over the medium term.

Malta's country ceilings for bonds and bank deposits are unaffected by the rating action and remain at Aaa, in line with the euro area's ceilings.

In a related rating action, Moody's said it downgraded Malta Freeport Co.'s foreign-currency and local-currency debt ratings to A2 from A1 given its status as a government guaranteed entity.

© 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.