Moody’s Upgrade for Greece – Positive surprise from tougher rating house | ECONOMY

In the midst of a pandemic and as the shadow of uncertainty about the evolution of the battle against the coronavirus looms over Europe, Moody’s gave a vote of confidence to the Greek economy!

Surprisingly even to the most optimistic, the toughest rating house, as evidenced by the fact that it had “forgotten” about Greece since March 2019, has improved Greece’s debt by one level and we are now three steps away from investing. . range, according to the Moody scale.

“Under normal circumstances, this improvement would be twofold,” the sources said, commenting on Moody’s positive move, which in its accompanying report focuses on the resilience of the Greek economy amid a pandemic, on the reform initiatives that are underway. “working” even in these difficult times, such as the new Bankruptcy, as well as the prospects for the next day, which are reinforced by European resources from the Recovery Fund and the Multi-annual Financial Framework.

At the same time, Greek bond prices are moving to historically low levels and it is indicative that the 2-year period fell to a negative interest rate of 0.03%. The price of the 5-year-old moves to 0.075%, the 10-year-old to 0.773% and the 15-year-old to 1.084%.

Reasons Moody’s Updated

The two main reasons for the upgrade, as stated by the company in its announcement, are:

“First, that the ongoing reforms underpin a sustainable improvement in institutional power and have already made tangible progress in areas such as tax administration and the fight against corruption. The risk of reversing these important improvements is low.

Second, that the country’s development prospects in the coming years are positive despite the short-term negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic, especially in the tourism sector. The Greek economy will benefit, according to Moody’s, from the ongoing efforts to improve the investment climate together with the inflow of very important European resources for the recovery, forecasting growth rates of 3.5% in the medium term. “The favorable growth prospects, combined with a return to a prudent fiscal stance will lead to a gradual reversal of the public debt trend,” notes the house, adding that Greece also benefits from the very favorable debt structure and its strong potential. to serve it.

The stable outlook reflects Moody’s view that it will take some time to fully integrate and make visible the benefits of governance and institutional reforms. The house also believes that the banking sector, despite the additional improvements from last year, still requires vigorous action to improve the poor quality of its assets.

Staikouras: “Extremely positive development for Greece and its economy”

Christos Staikouras’ comment after the … vote of confidence given by the credit rating agency Moody’s to the Greek economy:

“The credit rating agency Moody’s improved the credit quality of our country.

This is an extremely positive development for Greece and its economy.
In fact, the assessment was conducted under conditions of unprecedented recession in the world economy and individual national economies, as well as the high uncertainty that the pandemic has brought.

This development is evidence of increased confidence in the country and the Government, for the management of the current crisis, its reform initiatives and the prospects for the Greek economy.

For our part, we continue the effort with faith in the forces of the country, plan, calm and determination, to make our country stronger, its economy more productive and our society more just and cohesive ”.