Spiegel Online.
Moody's Investors Service on Monday cut its outlook for Germany's
creditworthiness to "negative" from "stable," but confirmed the
country's triple-A rating.
Moody's also cut its outlook for the Netherlands and Luxembourg, which
also have triple-A ratings, to negative from stable. Finland kept its
stable outlook.
The ratings agency said the move was due to growing uncertainty caused by the debt crisis.
It said there was an increased chance that Greece could leave the
euro zone, which "would set off a chain of financial sector shocks ...
that policymakers could only contain at a very high cost."
It also warned that Germany and other countries rated AAA might have
to increase support for ailing countries such as Spain and Italy. The
burden of that support would fall most heavily on the euro zone's
top-rated states, it said.
The agency affirmed Finland's AAA rating and stable outlook, but said
all four countries were adversely affected by uncertainty about the
outcome of the euro area debt crisis.
Moody's said it would also weigh the euro zone developments' impact
on Austria and France, which it still rates AAA. Those countries'
outlooks were lowered to negative in February, and Moody's now expects,
by the end of the third quarter, to "review whether their current rating
outlooks remain appropriate or whether more extensive rating reviews
are warranted."
France and Austria lost their triple-A ratings from Standard & Poor's, another American ratings agency, in January.
