Spanish Stock Market falls on S&P statement

Spanish Stock Market falls on S&P statement
larger | smaller
By h.b. - Dec 10, 2009 - 7:10 AM
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has warned it could reduce the rating for Spain's public debt

EFE archive

The ratings agency Standard and Poor’s have warned that they could reduce their classification for the Spanish public debt in the over the next two years.

The company already reduced their AAA rating last January, and says that that the current AA+ rating could be revised downwards. They consider the Spanish economy is in problems because it overheated before entering into recession, and that its external exposure to risk is similar to that of Portugal or Greece. Spain suffers from high debt in the public sector and an inflexible labour market.

The IBEX 35 Madrid stock market index fell by over 2% Wednesday on the news, but the Government has said that it does not share the opinions of the S&P.

Minister for Tax and the Economy, Elena Salgado, said she ‘respected but did not share’ the decision of Standard and Poor’s to open the door to possible ratings reduction in the next two years. ‘There are variables which don’t really explain this decision’, said Salgado, noting that the debt here at 68% of GDP was 20 points lower than the average in the Eurozone.

Click here for related stories

mobile |

email this article | print

printer friendly page

More Spain Business

Readers' comments:
Please keep to the subject. Opinions published here are of our visitors, not the Typically Spanish team. Comments which go against Spanish laws or which are libellous are not allowed. We reserve the right to delete any comment we wish. Placing a comment indicates you have read our terms and conditions and privacy policy.

Por favor, céntrate en el tema. Son las opiniones de los internautas, y no las de Typically Spanish. No está permitido verter comentarios contrarios a las leyes españolas o injuriantes. Reservado el derecho a eliminar los comentarios que consideremos fuera de tema. Escribir un comentario indica que has leído nuestros condiciones de uso y politica de privacidad.