It's not entirely fair to Greece in a situation like this because the ratings agencies have so often been wrong that their information should be considered worthless, but it's not. This now means the Greek government has to pay top margins for investors which will only force a new economic crisis faster. Bloomberg:
The move to CCC from B reflects “our view that there is a significantly higher likelihood of one or more defaults,” S&P said in a statement yesterday. “Risks for the implementation of Greece’s EU/IMF borrowing program are rising, given Greece’s increased financing needs and ongoing internal political disagreements surrounding the policy conditions required.”
Greece’s government, which plans to sell 1.25 billion euros ($1.8 billion) of 26-week Treasury bills today, said that the downgrade overlooked “intense” talks between European officials to address the nation’s financing needs. Credit- default swaps on Greece, Ireland and Portugal surged to records yesterday on concern governments’ struggles to resolve the turmoil will threaten their ability to pay their debts.
“Greece will default -- it’s a question of when, rather than if,” said Vincent Truglia, Managing Director at New York- based Granite Springs Asset Management LLP in New York and a former head of the sovereign risk unit at Moody’s. “It’s a basic solvency issue rather than a liquidity issue. Only a debt writedown will do.”
