The rating agency "Fitch" raised Greece's credit rating by one notch from "BB" to "BB+" with a stable outlook, which brings the country's rating to just one step closer to investment grade, BTA reported.

Fitch's decision on Friday was welcomed by Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras, who described it as confirmation that "the national goal of achieving an investment grade rating in 2023 – with multiple benefits for society and the economy – is feasible."

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also expressed satisfaction with the news, tweeting that his government is fully committed to the "reform agenda to attract investment, create jobs and accelerate growth."

The Greek government survived

As the main reasons for the increase in the credit rating of Greece, the agency points to the improvement of fiscal results and the reduced risk for the banking sector.

Specifically, Fitch expects the general government deficit to continue to narrow to 1.8 percent of GDP from the 3.8 percent it estimates for 2022. This is partly due to the optimization of temporary support measures.

This would see the primary balance improve by 2.5 percentage points to a surplus of 0.9 percent in 2024 and a balanced position in 2023. Fitch notes that there is some uncertainty about fiscal policies after the election, but the risks are constrained by a broad commitment to fiscal moderation and recent performance in this area.

As for public debt, which is estimated to see a record decline of 24.5 percentage points to 170 percent of GDP in 2022, the agency expects the decline to continue at a slower pace over the medium term, mainly thanks to high primary surpluses, and will fall to 160.6 percent in 2024.

Greece

credit rating