Friday, March 9, 2012

Fitch Lowers Greece's Rating to Restricted Default

Wall Street Journal
March 9, 2012

Fitch Ratings joined the two other major ratings agencies in a fresh round of downgrades for Greece's sovereign-debt rating following the euro zone's confirmation that Greece's government bonds will be exchanged at a hefty loss for creditors.

Fitch's rating was dropped to restricted default from C. The ratings agency had said it would likely temporarily place Greece in selective default after the debt exchange. It downgraded Greece's credit rating earlier last month to C from triple-C after officials confirmed Greece's bailout package would force bondholders to take a loss on their holdings.

Fitch said the downgrade was necessary as the exchange constituted a sovereign default under the agency's distressed debt exchange rating criteria.

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