S&P extended a much-needed fillip towards the Greek government on Friday by revising its outlook to positive from stable, a day after the IMF extended a paltry "precautionary" line of credit (1.6 billion euros) to the country until the bailout program ends in August 2018, but thoroughly linked to various conditions.
The international ratings agency affirmed its B- credit ratings for the country.
The abstracts of S&P's reasoning reads:
"We believe recovering economic growth, alongside legislated fiscal reforms and further debt relief, should enable Greece to reduce its general government debt-to-GDP ratio and debt servicing costs through 2020. We have therefore revised the outlook on Greece to positive from stable while affirming our 'B-' long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings. The positive outlook indicates our view that, over the next 12 months, there is at least a one-in-three probability that we could raise the ratings."
