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Greece relieved by mild credit rating cut
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Greece relieved by mild credit rating cut
AFP - Wednesday, December 23
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ATHENS (AFP) - – Greece on Tuesday received a milder-than-feared sovereign credit downgrade by Moody's, the third by a rating agency on the debt-hit eurozone country as it struggles to restore its market credibilitity.
Moody's downgraded Greece's government bond ratings to A2 from A1, adding that its outlook for the recession-mired Greek economy was negative given its "chronically weak fiscal institutions."
The latest credit rating cut came as Greek lawmakers debate the 2010 budget, which the socialist government says aims to reduce the growing public deficit and ease concerns over the country's solvency. A vote is expected on Wednesday.
But the ratings blow was not as harsh as recent downgrades by the two other main international agencies, Fitch and Standard & Poor's, and keeps Greek bonds in safe territory with regard to the European Central Bank's minimum lending requirements.
"Today's announcement by Moody's downgrading Greek government bonds by one notch keeps the rating of the Hellenic Republic in the A category, two notches above the ratings of the other two agencies which recently downgraded Greek government bonds," the Greek finance ministry said in a statement.
Analysts noted the palpable sense of relief in Athens where the stock exchange main index enjoyed 2.9-percent gains in midday trading.
The mild downgrade also eased pressure on Greek government bonds, with the yield on the 10-year note -- the interest on a debt -- dropping to 5.734 percent in morning trading, compared to 5.940 percent on Monday. Governments borrow money to cover their deficits by issuing bonds.
"This is one of the very few cases when a credit rating cut can be considered as good news," Ioannis Sokos, a London-based strategist with BNP Paribas, told AFP.
"The market was concerned that we might see a two or three notes downgrade instead of one and also the accompanying statement was very 'gentle' on Greece," he said.
Moody's said the socialist government's recent vows to take tough action against the deficit, which is expected to grow to 12.7 percent of gross domestic product this year, had only partly offset Greece's longer-term risks.
The government is aiming to reduce the deficit to 9.1 percent in 2010, which would still exceed the limit of 3.0 percent for countries that use the single European currency.
The country's central government debt has ballooned to 300 billion euros and the government plans borrow up to 53 billion euros in 2010, the finance ministry said. Athens also expects to fork out 12.95 billion euros in interest payments next year to service the debt -- or 5.3 percent of GDP.
"The Greek government's credit challenges are of a longer-term nature," said Sarah Carlson, Moody's lead sovereign analyst for Greece.
"They stem from a slow erosion in competitiveness and economic potential, which implies that the government's debt problem cannot be resolved by growth alone," she said.
But the credit ratings agency said that the eurozone country faced "very limited" short-term liquidity risks.
"Moody's believes that Greece is extremely unlikely to face short-term liquidity/refinancing problems unless the European Central Bank decides to take the unusual step of making the sovereign debt of a member state ineligible as collateral for bank repurchase operations -- a risk that we consider very remote," said Arnaud Mares, Moody's sovereign risk group senior vice president.
Fitch Ratings and S&P downgraded Greece's long-term debt ratings to BBB-plus from A-minus earlier this month.
The BBB-plus rating is still considered investment-grade but is below the standard lending requirements of the European Central Bank, which has given Greece 12 months to retrieve its credit rating.
The ECB eased its rating requirements for government bonds in the wake of the global financial crisis but is expected to restore the minimum A-minus level in 2011.
The concern for Greece, financial markets and the ECB is that if Greek bonds no longer met the ECB's minimum requirements, Greek banks that hold large quantities of Greek sovereign bonds would no longer be able to offer them as collateral to participate in regular ECB refinancing arrangements.
Moody's on Tuesday also downgraded the deposit and debt ratings of three of Greece's main lenders, the National Bank of Greece, EFG Eurobank Ergasias and Emporiki Bank of Greece, which is owned by France's Credit Agricole.
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