Fitch: Greek return to markets shows progress

Fitch on Friday retained Greece’s outlook as stable and its credit rating at B-, stating that its return to the international bond market helps meet the sovereign’s funding needs and highlights the magnitude of its fiscal and economic adjustment under its EU-IMF program, but economic and political risks to adjustment remain, and that it is unclear how sustainable market access will be.

“The generation of a primary surplus a year ahead of schedule in 2013 is a key measure of Greece’s enhanced ability to pay its way since restructuring its sovereign debt in 2012. Regaining market access has been a key objective of the Greek programs and Thursday’s issue was heavily oversubscribed. But its success does not guarantee that Greece will have made a sustainable return to market funding by the time the current program ends later this year. Market funding at around 5 percent is more expensive than the average annual cost of [creditors’] funds of 2 to 3 percent,” the rating agency’s statement read.

[Reuters]