Lunes 19/09/11 Semana del Fed

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Europe  · Italy  · Currencies

Italy Rating Lowered by S&P, Outlook ‘Negative’
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By Robert Burgess - Sep 19, 2011 6:30 PM
Italy’s credit rating was cut one level to A by Standard & Poor’s, which said the outlook remains “negative.”
The rating for Italy, which has Europe’s second-largest debt load, was lowered from A+, S&P said today in a statement. The firm said Italy’s net general government debt is the highest among A rated sovereigns, and now expects it to peak later and at a higher level than it previously anticipated.
“In our view, Italy’s economic growth prospects are weakening and we expect that Italy’s fragile governing coalition and policy differences within parliament will continue to limit the government’s ability to respond decisively to domestic and external macroeconomic challenges,” S&P said in a statement.
Italy follows Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus and Greece as euro-region countries having their credit rating cut this year. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi passed a 54 billion-euro ($73.5 billion) austerity package this month that convinced the European Central Bank to buy its bonds after borrowing costs surged to euro-era records in August.
To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Burgess in New York at bburgess@bloomberg.net