Credit

Cyprus made strides in paying down its debt in the second quarter of 2024, settling over 1 billion euros in bonds and loans. According to the Cypriot Finance Ministry's Debt Management Office (PDMO), this repayment approach helps reduce the national debt, boost financial stability and potentially open up new benefits for Cypriot citizens and the economy.

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said at a Serbia-Japan business forum in Belgrade on Thursday Serbia would by the end of this year get investment-grade credit ratings from the Fitch and Moody's rating agencies as well.

Debt management companies are diving into the hard core of the private debt owed to banks and, mainly, funds that have bought the bad loans, and have so far succeeded in streamlining loans amounting to approximately 10.3 billion euros out of the total of €98 billion they undertook to be managed, with an emphasis on those from 2021 onwards.

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras on Friday noted that the country's banks have successfully reduced their nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio to just over 5%.

However, he also warned that risks to financial stability remain.

Credit ratings agency Moody's changed Eurobank's and National Bank's outlook for their Baa2 senior unsecured debt and long-term deposit ratings to positive from stable, "following the outlook change to positive from stable in the Government of Greece's Ba1 issuer rating."

Moody's is the only one among major credit ratings agencies that has not given Greece's debt an investment grade.

The Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) has already drawn from markets €8.7 billion out of the planned €10 billion through bond issues. Thus, another issue is still a possibility, although several experts caution this is not necessary, and that the outstanding amount can be easily covered via the three planned reissuances.

Consumer credit had been expanding at a 30% clip during the first half of the year, boosted by strong consumer demand and car sales, up 6.5% during the first six months of 2024.

Bank data show that disbursements of consumer loans nearly reached €650 million during the first half compared to €500 million during the same period in 2023.

Greece retains the capacity to service its debt, the European Commission has said in its fourth post-program surveillance report released on Wednesday.

Fitch Ratings affirmed Greece's credit rating at "BBB-" with a stable outlook, maintaining the rating it had assigned six months ago when Greek bonds were elevated to investment grade.

The previous upgrade, following S&P's similar move in October 2023, facilitated the inclusion of Greek bonds in major international indices monitored by large institutional investors.

The new Entrepreneurship Fund (TEPIX III) is offering small and medium-sized enterprises the chance to obtain loans of 2.2 billion euros on favorable terms, through the 12 cooperating banks.