Credit rating agency

Standard & Poor's has upgraded Greece's credit rating by one notch to BB- with a positive outlook, saying another upgrade could follow within the next year.

The agency says a potential future upgrade would depend on the center-right government's continuing to implement economic reforms and also on an improvement in Greek banks' sizable exposure to nonperforming loans.

Despite expectations that Moody's would declare Greece's debt outlook positive, the credit rating agency has kept it stable. As expected, Moody's kept Greece's debt rating at B1, four notches below investment grade.

Bulgaria can adopt the euro by 2023. This is stated in a report by the rating agency Fitch.

The document recalls that the procedure began last year and a final decision on joining the ERM 2, also known as the euro waiting room, is expected by the end of this procedure.

Fitch Ratings said that it expects euro adoption in central and eastern European countries, including Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia, to have a positive impact on their sovereign creditworthiness, reports SeeNews. 

The government is moving quickly to develop plans to reduce the retail banks' nonperforming loans, hoping it will make up for the wasted time under the SYRIZA government.

The greatest challenge facing Greek banks is to reduce their very high level of nonperforming loans, says credit rating agency Moody's.

The latest Fitch report that saw Greece's debt rating remain unchanged at BB- and the outlook stable did not rattle the markets and, despite appearances, was not to blame for Monday's 3.83 percent dive by the benchmark of the Athens stock market.

Rating agency Moody's commented on Monday that the sale by Intralot of a 16.5 percent in lottery company Ellinika Lachia to main stakeholder OPAP is a credit positive for Intralot, and that the price of 20 million euros will go a long way toward improving its liquidity, which to date was seen as "weak," according to the agency.

Moody's changed its deposit rating on Greek banks Alpha, Eurobank and National to positive from stable, citing expectations of further improvement in asset quality, the ratings agency said on Tuesday.
Moody's said stronger than 2 percent annual economic growth in the coming years would support banks' efforts to reduce their large stock of sour loans.

Rating agencies pointed to a positive outlook after New Democracy's victory in Sunday's election.

"Under the leadership of the center-right party New Democracy, the incoming government's measures could boost Greece's economic growth potential and alleviate outstanding socioeconomic challenges," S&P Global said on Monday.