Greek sovereign debt rating to be upgraded by Fitch

By Nikos Chrysoloras

Greece’s credit rating will be increased one level by Fitch Ratings, which cited an improving economic and fiscal outlook for the country that sparked Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.

Greece’s long-term debt will be raised to B, five levels below investment grade, from B-, Fitch said in a draft report obtained by Bloomberg News. The upgrade may be announced tomorrow.

“Greece achieved a primary surplus in the general government account in 2013, a key target” with reference to the European Union-IMF financial assistance program and “an overperformance relative to budget,” the New York-based rating company said in the draft.

Greece holds European Parliament and a second round of local and regional elections on Sunday following the country’s first bond auction in four years. The nation, which set off Europe’s sovereign debt crisis in 2009 when it revealed its budget deficit had ballooned to over 15 percent of total economic output, is poised to return to growth after six consecutive years of contraction, Fitch said.

“The economy is bottoming out,” Fitch said. “Economic data outturns have been encouraging and support our baseline expectation that the recovery will gradually take hold this year.” Peter Fitzpatrick, a London-based spokesman for Fitch, declined to comment when contacted by telephone.

Political Instability

Four years and three prime ministers after Greece’s then Premier George Papandreou requested an international bailout in return for budget cuts and an economic overhaul that cost him his job, political instability still haunts Greece. If the leftist Syriza party wins the election on May 25, as opinion polls project, the blow may undo the coalition led by New Democracy and unravel...