Credit rating agency

Standard & Poor's has affirmed its long-term and short-term sovereign credit ratings on Bulgaria at 'BB+/B', with a stable outlook.

"The stable outlook reflects our view that Bulgaria's fiscal flexibility, arising from still-low general government debt, balances potential risks from the financial sector," the global rating agency said in a statement on Friday.

Bulgaria's First Investment Bank (Fibank) has repaid the BGN 1.2 B state aid, which was provided to the bank in June 2014.

The repayment was made in compliance with the plan approved by the European Commission in November 2014. The international rating agency Fitch confirmed the bank's ratings with Stable outlook.

Brazil lost its coveted investment-grade rating on Dec. 16 after Fitch became the second credit agency to downgrade the country's debt to junk status, citing concerns about an economic and political crisis threatening to topple President Dilma Rousseff.

Turkey's agenda since the election has been dominated by escalating geopolitical risks. 

Turkey's credit outlook will hinge on the new government's ability to tackle slowing growth and high inflation as credit risks of the country still remain, ratings agency Moody's said on Nov. 4.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) won back its single-party rule in an election on Nov. 1, ending months of uncertainty for investors and briefly sending assets sharply higher.

Turkey's limp consumer confidence picked up from a six-year low in October, data showed on Oct. 22, but ratings agencies highlighted risks to economic growth from a Nov. 1 election that may produce no outright winner.

Standard & Poor's cut Brazil's sovereign credit rating to junk on Sept.9, citing the struggle by President Dilma Rousseff's government to master growing debt and political turmoil.

Moody’s ratings agency downgraded Greece’s 4 systemic banks to C on the unsecured debt, as it estimates Greek bank bondholders will face cuts in the event that a ‘bail-in’ is opted for the Greek banking system. The downgrade concerns the unsecured debt of alpha Bank, Eurobank, Ergasias, National bank of Greece (NBG) and Piraeus Bank. The agency maintained the banks’ deposit ratings at Caa3.

Turkey?s snap parliamentary election being held on Nov. 1 will prolong policy indecision and intensify economic headwinds, ratings agency Moody?s said on Aug. 27.

In the report, the rating agency said geopolitical risks have been escalating and investors have avoided the risks arising from emerging markets. 

My latest column, in which I argued that the Turkish Lira would continue to slide until the Central Bank intervened with a significant interest rate hike, may have seemed pessimistic. But compared to a report and article that I read over the weekend, it is actually optimistic.