Fitch downgrades Italy to ‘BBB+’ with negative outlook
ROME (AFP) – The international ratings agency Fitch said Friday it had downgraded Italy’s sovereign debt rating by one notch to “BBB+” from “A-” and added that the outlook was negative.
Fitch pointed in particular to “the inconclusive results of the Italian parliamentary elections on 24-25 February” which “make it unlikely that a stable new government can be formed in the next few weeks.”
Italy’s vote left the country in a political deadlock, with no party or coalition able to form a government on its own, and party leaders have made little progress in talks so far. While the centre-left coalition won in the lower house, its failure to take the Senate has left leader Pier Luigi Bersani scrabbling to reach an agreement with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) to form a minority government.
The M5S founder, comedian Beppe Grillo, has unnerved markets and foreign investors with his attacks on unpopular austerity policies imposed on Italy by a technocratic government last year to tackle the debt crisis, as well as his call for a referendum on eurozone membership.
Bersani’s refusal to form an alliance with Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right party – which came a close second in the election – has also left many analysts fearing the country may be forced to return to the polls before long.
The uncertainty has not been reflected on stock markets until now, but should Italy slip back into the debt mire it could have a knock-on effect on other vulnerable countries that use the euro currency.
Italy’s borrowing costs rose slightly to 4.599 per cent on 10-year government bonds from 4.596 per cent just before Fitch’s announcement.
“The political uncertainty following the Italian parliamentary elections on 24-25 February is part of a normal democratic process,” Italy’s Finance Ministry said in a statement in English reacting to the Fitch downgrade.
“We reaffirm the confidence that Italy will find the political solutions and will therefore continue the undergoing reform process. In the meantime, the present government remains of course in place for current affairs,” it said.
Fitch also noted that Italy’s ongoing recession “is one of the deepest in Europe,” and warned that “the increased political uncertainty and non-conducive backdrop for further structural reform measures constitute a further adverse shock to the real economy.”
The agency also forecast that Italy’s public debt, one of the eurozone’s biggest, would peak this year at close to 130 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product), worse than Fitch’s previous estimate of 125 per cent.
It added that the economy was likely to shrink by 1.8 per cent this year, in the wake of a 2.4 per cent contraction in 2012, and said that “a weak government could be slower and less able to respond to domestic or external economic shocks.”
Fitch’s “BBB+” rating nonetheless leaves Italian debt in the investment grade category, and on the bright side, it underscored the country’s
“Relatively wealthy, high value-added and diverse economy with moderate levels of private sector indebtedness.”
