Standard & Poor's: Finnish creditworthiness at top of euro zone
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The creditworthiness of the Finnish state is in a league of its own, says the international credit rating service Standard & Poor's.
According to Moritz Kraemer, Primary Credit Analyst at Standard & Poors, Finnish finances are so well taken care of, that the country hardly has any competitors in this regard.
Kraemer said in London on Wednesday that Finland's situation is especially interesting, considering that the Finnish economy was on the verge of collapse in the 1990s.
This is not to say that Finland has no problems: the most difficult of these is the high unemployment rate.
However, a layman looking at the figures put out by S & P might not immediately see Finland as being far ahead of the other euro countries. Nearly all of them - Finland and seven others - are in the highest category - AAA. Nevertheless, there are differences within that group.
For instance, the AAA rankings of Finland and Ireland are in a more stable position than those France and Germany.
"France and Germany are currently sliding to the bottom of the AAA group", Kraemer says.
The reason that he gave was that the two countries have problems in nearly all parts of their economies: they have too much debt, their public sector deficits are big, and their per capita GDPs could be bigger.
The lowest classifications for the euro zone are for Greece, Portugal, Italy, and Belgium. Italy threatens to fall even further, and it is the only euro country whose prospects have been classified as negative by Standard & Poors.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 9.2.2006 - TODAY |
 Standard & Poor's: Finnish creditworthiness at top of euro zone |
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