S&P puts Slovenia, Estonia on negative watch

Standard & Poor's said it placed its AA-/A-1+ sovereign credit ratings on the Republic of Slovenia and its AA- long- and A-1+ short-term sovereign credit ratings on the Republic of Estonia on CreditWatch with negative implications.

The agency said its transfer and convertibility assessment for both countries, as for all European Economic and Monetary Union members, is AAA, reflecting S&P's view that the likelihood of the European Central Bank restricting nonsovereign access to foreign currency needed for debt service is extremely low.

S&P said the CreditWatch placement is prompted by concerns about the potential impact of deepening political, financial, and monetary problems within the euro zone. To the extent that these euro zone-wide issues permanently constrain the availability of credit to the economy, the economic growth outlook - and therefore the prospects for a sustained reduction of each sovereign's public debt ratio - could be affected, the agency said.

Further, it is S&P's opinion that the lack of progress the European policymakers have made so far in controlling the spread of the financial crisis may reflect structural weaknesses in the decision-making process within the euro zone and European Union, the agency said.

© 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.