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THE CREDIT RATING agency Moody’s downgraded Spain’s sovereign credit rating by three notches tonight, days after the government sealed a deal to borrow €100 billion for its troubled banking system.
The agency said that the new loans, the details of which have yet to be finalised, will increase the country’s debt burden at a time when it already has limited access to normal financial lending markets.
“This will further increase the country’s debt burden, which has risen dramatically since the onset of the financial crisis,” Moody’s said, setting the new rating at Baa3 from A3.
This new rating is one notch above ’junk’ status.
The yield on Spanish 10-year bonds hit 6.8 per cent yesterday as the deal announced at the weekend did little to allay the fears of investors who worry that the bank bailout will not be enough to save Spain.
In issuing news of its downgrade this evening, Moody’s also cited the continued weakness of the country’s economy where unemployment is around 24 per cent and economic growth is stagnant.
“While the details of the support package have yet to be announced, it is clear that the responsibility for supporting Spanish banks rests with the Spanish government,” Moody’s said.
- with reporting from AFP
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“It’s not necessary to censor the news, it’s sufficient to delay the news until it no longer matters” – Napoleon
These 30 year secrecy rules do not serve the interests of the people of Ireland.
They only protect the elites from accountability.
Why do you think they chose 30 years?
Because most politicians are in power in their 50′s and 60′s, and by the time 30 years has elapsed, they’re either too old to be jailed, or dead.
@Franklin Roosevelt:
IF (a big if) the rumours about King Gerry are true it makes one think about the timing of his stepping down.
@Franklin Roosevelt: In any government as in any large business have to have some secrecy…Cant publish every cabinet discussion that day for instance…Or every ministeral email…It would damage trust in the government… 30 years seems ok….
@P.J. Nolan: who is King Gerry? I know of no monarch with that name.
And what are the rumours?
@John003: I’m not asking for that.
But for the big decisions… like what was the correspondence of the government between 2008 and 2010? When Ireland issued a blanket bank guarantee, then forced us to pay a 150 billion debt.
Surely it’s in our interest to know all the details of that? And not wait until 2040 to find out.
And what about the friendship that bankers had with Brian Cowan?
In the 1930′s, when businessmen and politicians colluded, it was called fascism.
@P.J. Nolan: and do you believe these rumours spreaded by a priest?
@John003: time to release the Dublin Monaghan bombing files so
’87 – Cov city won the FA cup
Glad they were able to maintain their form :(
The current car registration system in Ireland started in 1987
I was born 3 years later so i am going to let myself away with that disastrous score.
@Con O’Driscoll: I can’t work out how you were two different ages in the same year…. I’ve tried to do the equation several times and it just doesn’t seem possible. Please inform us mere mortals of your ingenious reasoning!!!
@Paul Linehan: because he was 3 for the first part of the year and 4 after his bday…
@Karen NíDhochartaigh: That makes perfect sense now, thanks Karen….
The Reagan question answer is wrong. Mr Gorbachev tear down this wall was in 1987. Not the answer given in the question
I was at Slane and Bowie that year. It was pretty damn good !!!
@Catherine Sims: Oh, I hated missing it in Slane so much, the Glass Spider tour. But I got to see him play in Wembley that year! I always envied older people who saw him years ago, & never thought he’d hit the road again. It was great to hear him live.
Had my first ciggie in 1987 , puked outside the exam hall lol
8/10 and I only turned 9 that year.
5/10. Hard to believe that more people went to see Three Men and a Baby than Good Morning Vietnam. I doubt those figures.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: it had magnum P.I and Sam from cheers left minding a baby. Definatly the safest movie of the 4 for families at that time. The other 3 are movies that still have appeal to this day, no one of any age or gender could be arsed sitting through 3 men and a baby now.
have your say