13 June 2012

Moody's downgrades Spain's government bond rating to Baa3 from A3, on review for further downgrade

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Spain's government bond rating to Baa3 from A3, and has also placed it on review for possible further downgrade. Moody's expects to conclude the review within a maximum timeframe of three months.

The decision to downgrade the Kingdom of Spain's rating reflects the following key factors:

1. The Spanish government intends to borrow up to €100 billion from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) or from its successor, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), to recapitalise its banking system. This will further increase the country's debt burden, which has risen dramatically since the onset of the financial crisis.
2. The Spanish government has very limited financial market access, as evidenced both by its reliance on the EFSF or ESM for the recapitalisation funds, and its growing dependence on its domestic banks as the primary purchasers of its new bond issues, who in turn obtain funding from the ECB.
3. The Spanish economy's continued weakness makes the government's weakening financial strength and its increased vulnerability to a sudden stop in funding a much more serious concern than would be the case if there was a reasonable expectation of vigorous economic growth within the next few years.

Moody's has today also downgraded the rating of Spain's Fondo de Reestructuración Ordenada Bancaria (FROB) to Baa3 from A3 and placed the rating on review for possible further downgrade, in line with the sovereign rating action. The FROB's debt is fully and unconditionally guaranteed by the government of Spain. Moreover, the provisional short-term rating of the Spanish government has today also been downgraded to (P)Prime-3 from (P)Prime-2. Similarly, FROB's short-term rating was lowered to P-3 from P-2.

The review for downgrade will focus on the outcome of the ongoing external audits of the Spanish banking system, the conditionality and details of the EFSF/ESM loan agreement, and the specific execution strategy developed for the banking system's recapitalisation. Moody's will also consider any further initiatives at the euro area level. In addition, Spain's rating -- as well as the ratings of other euro area countries -- could be adversely affected if the risk of a Greek exit from the euro area were to rise further.

Full press release

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