WORLD
Ireland`s credit rating slashed to junk status
Baku, July 13 (AZERTAC). Ireland received an EU and IMF emergency bailout in 2010Ireland`s bond rating has been cut to non-investment grade by credit rating agency Moody`s. Ireland is the third eurozone country to be given the junk status rating after Portugal and Greece.
The credit rating for Ireland has been lowered to junk status by Moody`s rating agency.
Moody`s said the decision was based on the "growing possibility" that Ireland would need a second bailout. Ireland received emergency financing from the European Union and International Monetary Fund last year which is due to end in late 2013.
The Irish rating was lowered from Ba1 to Baa3, Moody`s said in a statement Tuesday. The decision means Irish government bonds have been branded as non-investment grade.
A spokesman for the Finance Ministry told Irish broadcaster RTE that the downgrading was disappointing, incoherent and out of step with other bond rating agencies.
Ireland had a top triple-A rating two years ago, but a wave of bank bailouts after the country`s real estate bubble burst sent the government`s debt soaring.