Greek Cyprus’ credit rating slashed by S&P

NEW YORK - Agence France-Presse

Greek Cypriot President Christofias is facing increasing financial pressure.

Standard and Poor’s (S&P) slashed Greek Cyprus’ credit rating on Dec. 20 by two notches to CCC+, saying the eurozone member was facing increasing financial pressure, with bailout negotiations still unfinished.

“With the government’s financing options increasingly limited that coupled with what we view as the hesitant attitude of Cyprus’ eurozone partners toward sharing the cost of a severe banking crisis, we view the risk of a sovereign debt default as considerable and rising,” the ratings agency said. “The downgrade reflects our view that Cyprus’ creditworthiness has deteriorated further since the last downgrade on Oct. 17, 2012, as financing pressures have intensified and uncertainty about the terms of any official support persists ahead of the February 2013 presidential elections,” it said.

Standard and Poor’s stated the negative outlook indicated that another downgrade was possible.
“We see at least a one-in-three chance that we could lower the ratings again in 2013,” adding that the rating could stabilize if a bailout deal was quickly agreed.