Fitch keeps Greek rating at ‘BB’ level
Fitch Ratings confirmed on Friday Greece’s credit rating at ‘BB,’ two notches below investment grade, as well as maintaining the country’s Positive outlook.
As the agency explained, Greece has a high per capita income that far exceeds the ‘BB’ and ‘BBB’ median. Scores on governance and human development indicators are among the highest on this scale. These advantages, however, come up against very high, albeit declining, levels of nonperforming loans (NPLs) and very large stocks of public and external debt.
On July 8 Fitch had also confirmed the ‘BB’ rating with a Positive outlook that it had given at the beginning of the year, two notches below investment rating.
On September 16, both DBRS and Moody’s kept Greece at a standstill. The former places the country on ‘BB (high)’ with a Stable outlook, meaning Greece remains one notch below investment grade.
For its part, Moody’s had last changed Greece’s rating in November 2020. It had upgraded it to ‘Ba3’ with a Stable outlook, i.e. three notches below investment grade.
S&P had upgraded Greece to ‘BB+’ with a stable outlook on April 22. In other words, it considers it one step below investment level.
