NBG bond rating upgrade bodes well for credit system, economy

Last Friday's decision by Standard & Poor's to upgrade National Bank of Greece's covered bonds to investment grade will be crucial for the Greek lender in its accessing international markets and contributing toward the general improvement of liquidity in the local market. And it will be especially so if the European Central Bank decides against retaining the "waiver" on Greek government bonds after the bailout program ends next month.

For the first time after the outbreak of the financial crisis, S&P raised a Greek bond to investment grade. This is the three-year, 750-million-euro covered bond that NBG issued last October, designed by the bank in such a way that it would become eligible for the ECB bond-buying program in the context of the extension of its quantitative easing (QE) policy. The latter will now last till the end of 2018, although Greece has not yet been...