Friday, 30 January 2009

Ireland faces rating dowgrade

That generous blanket deposit guarantee from the Irish government is starting to look a little silly.

Ireland has become the first western European country to have its top-notch credit rating given a negative outloook by Moody’s Investors Service, in a further sign of the strains being put on national economies by the financial crisis.

Ireland has already been given a warning that it could soon lose its triple-A status by rival agency Standard & Poor’s, which has already downgraded Spain, Greece and Portugal in recent weeks.


(from the FT)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is that a lucky leprechaun I see before me?

It's hilarious, isn't it? The CDS spreads on sovereign wealth go haywire - widening substantially... then after a few months... the ratings agencies say "you know, in the future, maybe there might be a bit more risk." You couldn't make it up.

Alice Cook said...

Asteve,

I did wonder whether it was worth posting this story. As you suggest, it is a mystery why anyone pays any attention to rating agencies.

Alice

Anonymous said...

The higher they fly, the further they fall.

Anonymous said...

One prediction is that real estate in Ireland could fall by 80%