Io Chokona / Athens, July 22 () - Standard & Poor's raised Greece's credit rating by two notches to CCC+ after the indebted country reached a preliminary deal with its creditors on an upto 86 billion euros credit package.
S&P said that the scenario of Athens defaulting on its debts was no longer inevitable in the coming months and thus the chances of Greece having to pull out of the euro were reduced, though still "high". Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s upgraded Greece’s credit rating on Tuesday from CCC- to CCC+.
Though CCC+ is still a “junk” rating, Standard and Poor’s said that following the agreement reached with international creditors, Greece’s chance of exiting the Eurozone by 2018 are less than 50% and there is a stable outlook for the country.
However, the agency cautioned that the risk of a Grexit is still high, especially if Greece does not proceed to implement the deal that will presumably be finalized soon.
The Greek Parliament today is set to vote a second austerity bill, prepared after the agreement with the creditors early this month, seen as a "crash test" for the Syriza government.
The draft legislation includes a second batch of measures that must pass if it is to receive its 86 billion dollars new credit. Lawmakers are due to vote on the measures later today, in a fresh test of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ authority, after he suffered a major rebellion in his Syriza party during a vote on a first tranche of credit measures on July 15.
