No, it’s not a joke! It’s bitter serious! Rating agency Moody’s is very moody recently and downgrades whatever “Greek” crosses its way. So, beware to avoid a Moody and its small Moody’s, should you see one on the streets. Moody Moody’s will downgrade you personally by 3 notches and define you no more “junk” but most likely as “Confetti”.
Moody’s downgraded the debt of Greece’s capital, Athens, from B1 to Ba1 and gave the Athens Municipality a negative outlook as will.
It cited uncertainty surrounding the impact of reforms on the city’s finances and the difficulty of adjusting quickly enough to a drop in government transfers and services charges amid a flagging economy.
Moody’s said that Greece’s cities in general were not likely to have enough financial wherewithal to enjoy a credit rating stronger than Greece’s central government debt, which was downgraded Monday to B1 from Ba1, well into “junk bond” territory.
A verbatim text of Moody’s statement follows:
“Moody’s Investors Service has today downgraded the issuer rating of the City of Athens by three notches to B1 from Ba1. Today’s rating action concludes the review for downgrade initiated on 16 December 2010. The rating outlook is now negative.
Greek municipalities, including the City of Athens, are unlikely to possess sufficient financial flexibility to enable their credit quality to be stronger than that of the sovereign,” explains Gianfilippo Carboni, an analyst within Moody’s sub-sovereign group. The rating agency also recognises Athens’ reliance on central government transfers in order to fund its operations and capital investments, and the high level of integration of its local economic base with that of the national economy”. (Read the whole Moody’s statement in imarketnews.com )
Now I see Athens mayor Giorgos Kaminis running around to meet with his creditors…