Moody’s downgrades Spain credit rating

The credit rating agency said on Wednesday that the bailout “will further increase the country’s debt burden, which has risen dramatically since the onset of the financial crisis,” AFP reported.

Moody’s cut three notches from A3 to Baa3, which is the lowest level of “investment grade” or just above “speculative” or “junk” grade.

On Saturday, eurozone finance ministers agreed to lend 100 billion euros to Spain to save its teetering banks, which means more debt would be added to Madrid’s already huge official borrowings.

“While the details of the support package have yet to be announced, it is clear that the responsibility for supporting Spanish banks rests with the Spanish government,” the ratings agency said.

In addition, Moody’s said the borrowing “will materially worsen the government’s debt position.”

It also noted that the country’s public debt ratio could rise to 90 percent of GDP in 2012 and would continue going up through 2015.

Battered by the global financial downturn, the Spanish economy collapsed into recession in the second half of 2008, taking with it millions of jobs.

Many economists believe Spain’s economy will enter into a new recession in the first two quarters of 2012.

The worsening eurozone debt crisis has raised Spain’s financing costs and raised concerns that the country might have to seek a European Union bailout, like Greece.

GJH/AS/HN

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