We're Worse than Sub-Prime...

Standard & Poors, the Credit Rating Agency that awarded 'AAA' ratings to bundles of sub-prime loans, don't think Ireland is a safe bet, downgrading its opinion of government bonds to AA+. The news has made the front of today's Indo, but the downgrade was probably inevitable once the Government announced its intention to borrow more than 9.5 per cent of GDP.


Here is the damning report, and some depressing highlights are below:

Credit analyst David Beers:
The deterioration of Ireland's public finances will likely require a number of years of sustained effort to repair, on a scale greater than factored into the government's current plans.

S&P Press man:
The Irish economy will materially underperform the Eurozone economy as a whole over the next five years, recording minimal growth in real and nominal GDP, on average, during the period. As a result, we believe that Ireland's net general government debt burden could peak at over 70% of GDP by 2013, a level we view as inconsistent with the prospective debt burdens of other small Eurozone sovereigns in the 'AAA' category.


Ugh...