Fitch said it had considered both positives and negatives |
The credit
ratings agency Fitch has downgraded five eurozone countries, with a double-drop
for the major economies of Italy and Spain. The move, ahead of an EU summit on
Monday, comes soon after another mass downgrade.
Credit
ratings agency Fitch on Friday downgraded its credit outlook for five eurozone
countries, citing financing and growth fears as its reasons.
The ratings
of major economies Italy and Spain dropped by two notches; Italy from A+ to A-
and Spain from A to AA- status.
There was
also a downgrade of two points for Slovenia, with Belgium and Cyprus both
falling by one. The agency said that although governments had taken action on a
national level to dispel market fears, it also had to take a poor economic
outlook into account.
"Today's
rating actions balance the marked deterioration in the economic outlook with
both the substantive policy initiatives at the national level to address
macro-financial and fiscal imbalances," said a statement on the website of
US-based Fitch.
The agency
also highlighted a collective failure to reach agreement on the wider eurozone
crisis as a further motivation for the downgrade.
A poor economic outlook for the eurozone was given as just one reason |
"The
intensification of the eurozone crisis in the latter half of last year
undermined the effectiveness of ECB monetary policy and highlighted the
financing risks faced by eurozone."
Narrow
escape for Ireland
Ireland
maintained its triple-B rating, but was placed on Fitch's "negative
outlook" list - indicating the likelihood of a future downgrade.
The
announcement comes ahead of a European Union summit on Monday, aimed at finding
a solution to mounting debt and poor growth.
Earlier
this month, ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded nine
European countries, with France and Austria losing their top-notch triple-A
ratings.
Italy,
Spain, Portugal and Cyprus went down by two levels on the S&P scale, while
Malta, Slovakia, and Slovenia each fell by one.
Author:
Richard Connor (AFP, AP, dpa)
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