S&P Upgrades Greece

By Lisa Beilfuss 

        Ratings firm Standard & Poor's on Tuesday lifted Greece's credit rating by two notches, citing the three-year loan program and EUR7.16 billion ($7.84 billion) in three-month bridge financing secured, in principle, last week.
        S&P said the ratings increase for Greece is based on "our view that its default on its stock of commercial debt is no longer inevitable" in the next six months to a year.
        S&P, which raised the beleaguered nation's rating to triple-C plus from triple-C minus--still firmly in junk territory--after cutting it in June, said it now thinks the possibility of Greece leaving the eurozone has fallen to below 50%. The risk is still high, the company said, "if the Greek government doesn't successfully implement what looks to be an ambitious program."
        Greek banks opened their doors Tuesday for the first time in three weeks, and the Greek government met a Monday deadline to pay EUR4.2 billion ($4.6 billion) to the European Central Bank and paid off some EUR2 billion ($2.19 billion) in arrears to the International Monetary Fund.
        The money came from a short-term bridge loan that European Union officials agreed earlier this month to a bailout deal for the nation in exchange for more austerity measures including steep spending cuts and tax increases.
        The financing agreement with the Eurogroup hinges on approval by eurozone national parliaments and a list of actions to be legislated by the Greek parliament, many of which have been legislated upon. Negotiating the new program will take at least a month, S&P said. As political backing for the measures "is only partial within the governing Syriza party," there is a possibility that the implementation of the new program could be interrupted by another round of general elections, the S&P added.
        Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        July 21, 2015 14:57 ET (18:57 GMT)

#FX
#Forex
#SaleForex
#UpgradesGreece