BRATISLAVA, January 15, (WEBNOVINY) – According to state secretary at the Finance Ministry Vladimir Tvaroska, the downgrade of Slovakia’s rating by the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s is not a reaction to the current events in Slovakia or to early parliamentary elections. “It is a reaction to insufficiently ambitious and resolute solutions to the debt crisis and its core, which is the competitiveness of some European countries,” Tvaroska commented for SITA news agency.
As the state secretary further said, the downgrade of Slovakia’s ratings by one notch was not a surprise for the markets, as Standard & Poor’s announced in early December of last year that it might downgrade ratings of some eurozone members, including Slovakia. It should not dramatically influence the country’s borrowing ability. “We will see in the next days and weeks what will happen on financial markets. It is hard to predict the development precisely,” Tvaroska concluded by saying.
On Friday, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Slovakia’s long-term sovereign rating to A from A+ with a stable outlook. It lowered the rating on Italy, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus by two notches and on France, Austria, Slovenia and Malta by one notch. The agency also affirmed long-term sovereign ratings on Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Estonia, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
On December 5 of last year, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the long-term outlook on Slovakia’s rating to negative. Fitch Ratings has not revised Slovakia’s rating since July 8, 2008, which remains at A+ with a stable outlook. The third large rating agency Moody’s Investors Service last changed the outlook on the country’s rating from positive to stable on March 27, 2009, while Moody’s rating on Slovakia is A1.
SITA