RR Phantom
Location : Wasted Space Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
| Subject: S&P removes Dutch from AAA club Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:35 pm | |
| Standard & Poor's agency has cut the Netherlands' credit rating, reducing the euro zone club of full triple-A nations to just three, while rewarding Spain for efforts to reform its public finances.
S&P lowered the Netherlands, which is suffering from an anaemic economy, slumping house prices and falling consumer confidence, to "AA+" from "AAA". This left Germany, Luxembourg and Finland as the only members of the 17-nation euro zone with the top rating from all three leading credit agencies.
However, it raised the outlook for Spanish debt to stable from negative and upgraded bailed-out Cyprus, highlighting diverging fortunes within the common currency bloc.
The fiscally conservative Dutch government has long been an ally of Germany in taking a tough line on the eurozone's "budget sinners" which run large deficits. Advertisement
Now, S&P has stripped the Netherlands of its coveted top long-term rating to reflect its bleak economic growth prospects, while Spain appears to be finally emerging from the depths of economic despair, albeit slowly.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/sp-removes-dutch-from-aaa-club-20131130-2yhwr.html#ixzz2mB9nyiet
|
|