Fewer countries are managing to hang on to their much prized AAA credit status in the wake of the financial meltdown.
Finland was stripped recently of its top AAA rating, after Standard & Poor’s put it down one notch to AA+.
This has left only two eurozone nations, Germany and Luxembourg, still holding Standard and Poor’s AAA status.
While the three leading ratings agencies differ on the appropriate status for some countries, Moody’s, Fitch, and Standard & Poor’s agree on just nine which deserve the AAA classification.
Australia
Canada
Denmark
Germany
Luxembourg
Norway
Singapore
Sweden
Switzerland
The UK was kicked out of the club last year when both Moody’s and Fitch both downgraded it, but S&P kept it at AAA level.
But the opposite is true for the USA. In 2011, S&P stripped the country of its AAA rating, which it had had since 1941, in light of the political battle over the national budget which nearly forced the US into default.
But Moody’s and Fitch both stuck with their AAA rating for the US.
Portugal suffered a downgrade by S&P in early 2012 and it has remained at BB level since. The agency defines the BB rating as “Less vulnerable in the near-term but faces major ongoing uncertainties to adverse business, financial and economic conditions.”
In May this year, it said Portugal’s economic performance exceeded expectations, with growth forecast of an average 1.4% during 2014 and 2015. Its “outlook” category went from negative to ‘stable’.
Yet further down the league are those nations which have been given “junk” status. Greece finds itself in this category, along with Cyprus, Bolivia, Cuba, Egypt, Jamaica, Pakistan, Ukraine and others.
