Moody's Investors Service

Bulgaria's ruling party GERB and opposition party the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) have locked horns over a proposal for new borrowing of EUR 8 B by 2017.

Citigroup, HSBC, Societe Generale and Unicredit have been selected by Bulgaria's government to manage its global medium-term bond programme worth EUR 8 B, according to a new draft bill now before Parliament.

Following a recent decision by the ratings firm change Greece’s credit rating to under monitoring regime, Moody’s announced today the credit assessment of the five Greek banks.
More specifically, Piraeus Bank, National Bank and Alpha Bank from Caa1 downgraded to Caa2, while Eurobank and Attica Bank from Caa3 downgraded to Caa2.

Moody's Investors Service assigned a provisional unsecured (P)Baa2 rating to Bulgaria's EUR 8 B Global Medium Term Note (GMTN) programme on Friday.

The rating reflects the country's weak economic growth outlook in an environment of moderate credit expansion and persistent unemployment.

Standard and Poor's stripped Russia of its investment-grade rating on Jan. 26, cutting it to "junk" status with a warning of weak growth.

"The downgrade reflects our view that Russia's monetary policy flexibility has become more limited and its economic growth prospects have weakened," the ratings agency said in a statement announcing the one-notch cut to a 'BB+' rating.

The likelihood of Greece leaving the European single currency remains relatively unlikely than during the peak of the eurozone crisis and the risk of contagion to other countries is lower than in 2012, rating agency Moody's said on Wednesday.

International rating agency Moody's Investors Services has placed on review for downgrade the long-term deposit, debt and issuer ratings and bank financial strength ratings (BFSRs) of 16 Russian financial institutions.

Bailed-out Cyprus will be putting out market feelers next week about a possible new bond issue, choosing Barclays, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and SG CIB to organize meetings with European investors.

By John Geddie

Greek bond yields edged lower on Monday after a credit rating upgrade from Standard & Poor's, which said the country remained on track to emerge from a six-year recession.

The upgrade to B from B- late on Friday is a boost for Greece's fragile coalition government, which is hoping to escape the constraints of its EU/IMF bailout program.

One of the world’s top credit rating agencies, Fitch Ratings has lowered Croatia’s long-term credit rating in foreign currency from BB+ to BB, lowering its domestic currency rating from BBB- to BB+.

Standard & Poor’s has given Croatia a BB rating since the start of the year. Croatia’s rating with Moody’s remains BB+.