Current:Home > MyGreek economy wins new vote of confidence with credit rating upgrade and hopes for investment boost-LoTradeCoin
Greek economy wins new vote of confidence with credit rating upgrade and hopes for investment boost
View Date:2024-12-23 18:28:30
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece won new certification of its financial health Friday, as Standard & Poor’s became the first of the three major international ratings agencies to upgrade the formerly struggling country’s credit rating to investment grade.
The one-notch upgrade, from BB+ to BBB-, is expected to significantly boost market confidence in the Greek economy, attracting investment and lowering borrowing costs. The center-right government hailed it as a major success.
It came more than a decade after Greece’s bonds were relegated to sub-investment — or junk — grade amid the financial crisis that pushed the country to the brink of financial collapse and forced three massive international bailouts.
To secure the rescue loans, successive Greek governments undertook to impose painful spending cuts and tax hikes while broadly reforming the economy and balancing the state budget.
S&P said Greece’s outlook was stable, while a further reduction in the country’s debt as a percentage of annual output could prompt a new future upgrade.
“Supported by a very rapid economic recovery, the Greek government has been able to regularly outperform its own budgetary targets despite gradually increasing social transfers,” S&P said.
Securing investment grade was a key target for Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who won a second term in office in a landslide election victory in June.
Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis hailed the S&P upgrade late Friday, while pledging to maintain prudent budgetary policies.
“The country faces a historic window of opportunity through a combination of the right economic policy mixture with political stability,” he said.
In early September, ratings agency DBRS Morningstar also upgraded Greece’s credit rating to investment grade. Days afterwards, an upgrade by Moody’s raised the country’s bonds to just one notch inside junk territory.
Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s, DBRS and Fitch are the four ratings agencies taken into account by the European Central Bank — with Fitch expected to reassess Greece’s rating by the end of the year.
veryGood! (86564)
Related
- Melissa Gilbert recalls 'painful' final moment with 'Little House' co-star Michael Landon
- Gunmen kill 15 police officers and several civilians in Russia’s southern Dagestan region
- Late Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek to be honored with new Forever stamp
- The Oilers join 9 other NHL teams that forced a Game 7 after trailing a series 3-0
- Harriet Tubman posthumously honored as general in Veterans Day ceremony: 'Long overdue'
- Real Housewives of New Jersey's Melissa Gorga's Summer Essentials Include a Must-Have Melasma Hack
- Stanley Cup Final Game 7 Panthers vs. Oilers: Predictions, odds, how to watch
- LGBTQ+ librarians grapple with attacks on books - and on themselves
- Full House Star Dave Coulier Shares Stage 3 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Diagnosis
- Florida rapper Foolio killed in shooting during birthday celebration
Ranking
- Katharine Hayhoe’s Post-Election Advice: Fight Fear, Embrace Hope and Work Together
- A charge for using FaceTime? Apple made no such announcement | Fact check
- From Sada Baby to Queen Latifah: Rappers and what they mean to Trump and Biden in 2024
- 'We'll bring in the CIA': Coaches discuss disallowed Stanley Cup Finals Game 6 goal
- Horoscopes Today, November 13, 2024
- One dead, seven injured after shooting at Kentucky nightclub
- Woman tried to drown 3-year-old girl after making racist comments, civil rights group says
- Inside Charlie’s Queer Books, an unapologetically pink and joyful space in Seattle
Recommendation
-
Louisiana mom arrested for making false kidnapping report after 'disagreement' with son
-
Who owns TikTok? What to know about parent company ByteDance amid sell-or-ban bill for app
-
Kardashian Kids Including Dream Kardashian and True Thompson Celebrate With Parents at Dance Recital
-
My Favorite SKIMS Drops This Month: Curve-Enhancing Leggings, Plunge Bras for Natural Cleavage & More
-
1 million migrants in the US rely on temporary protections that Trump could target
-
Pregnant Francesca Farago Reveals Why Planning the Babies' Nursery Has Been So Stressful
-
South Korea summons Russia's ambassador over Moscow's new pact with North as inter-Korean tensions keep rising
-
In one affluent Atlanta suburb, Biden and Trump work to win over wary Georgia voters