Fitch cuts Greek rating
Ratings agency Fitch cut Greece’s credit rating to junk yesterday, citing persisting doubts over the country’s ability to pull itself out of a severe debt crisis that has shaken the eurozone. The rating agency cut Greece’s rating to BB+ from BBB- and kept it under negative outlook. Greek debt is now rated junk by all three major rating agencies. «The downgrade acknowledges that while Greece’s economic and fiscal performance under the [European Union and International Monetary Fund] program has in many respects exceeded expectations, its heavy public debt burden renders fiscal solvency highly vulnerable to adverse shocks,» Fitch said in a statement. In response to the downgrade, the Greek Finance Ministry said steps made on the fiscal front, reforms and the upcoming extension of the 110-billion-euro loan prove that the Fitch decision is not supported by objective criteria. The downgrade also showed the need to revise how rating agencies operate in Europe, added the ministry.