Fitch Upgrades Spain Credit Rating

The Fitch ratings agency has upgraded Spain’s credit grade, citing an improvement in the outlook of the country’s finances and economy.

The agency lifted the country’s sovereign rating Friday by one notch to BBB+ from BBB.

In a report, Fitch said the “economic reforms of the labor market, pension system, fiscal framework and financial sector that have been enacted by the authorities since the start of the crisis have improved the longer-term outlook.”

Spain was among the European countries hardest hit by the financial crisis. The property market’s collapse in 2008 pushed the economy into recession and the government needed help from other eurozone countries to rescue its banks.

Spain’s government said in a statement that it valued the new rating because it was recognition of the government’s commitment to reform.

“These reforms will solidify the economic recovery, which will help to contain the deficit and permit net job creation this year,” the statement said.

Although unemployment is still near 26 percent, Spain’s economy is out of recession and government borrowing rates have dropped.

via Mainichi

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza