Greece’s credit rating remains resilient despite the COVID-19 induced damage to the key tourism sector likely to continue beyond 2020, said the international credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service on Monday.
According to Kathemerini, the agency stated southern European countries that included Portugal, Malta, Spain, Cyprus, Croatia, Italy, as well as Greece, had rebuilt their credit positions in the wake of the euro debt crisis of the past decade even though jobs, economic growth and public debt were most vulnerable because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Tourists’ lingering concerns about health and safety, quarantine rules and the economic downturn triggered by the crisis mean the current slump is increasingly likely to last beyond this summer,” said Sarah Carlson, Moody’s senior vice president.
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The agency’s assistant vice-president analyst, Petter Byrman said that: “Many of the countries that are vulnerable to the tourism downturn have sources of economic, institutional and fiscal resilience that allow for ratings’ stability despite the economic and fiscal impact of the pandemic.”
The countries were also supported to a significant degree by policies of the European Central Bank and the emergency recovery fund. Moodys’, however, noted that much was still needed to be done regarding bad loans.