Despite Argentine President Javier Milei's stringent measures to curb inflation, his country took another slump Wednesday after the international credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) declared it in Selective Default following a domestic debt swap worth some U$S 55.3 billion in pesos with local creditors.
Standard & Poor's cut its rating of Argentina's long-term foreign currency debt rating to CCC- from CCC+ with a “negative” outlook. A CCC rating is defined as “currently vulnerable and dependent on favorable business, financial and economic conditions to meet financial commitments,” according to S&P.
Greece’s credit rating was cut on Friday three levels by Fitch Ratings, which said that even a voluntary extension of its bond maturities being studied by EU policy makers would be considered a default.
Italy’s Treasury said it will “intensify” structural changes in the economy and push ahead with measures to balance the budget by 2014 after Standard & Poor’s said its debt rating is at risk of a downgrade.