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S&P Revises Bucharest Outlook To Negative, Ratings Affirmed

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has revised its outlook on the Romanian city of Bucharest to negative from stable, following a similar action on the sovereign, and reaffirmed the 'BB+' long-term issuer credit rating, the rating agency said Tuesday.
S&P Revises Bucharest Outlook To Negative, Ratings Affirmed
28 oct. 2008, 15:49, English

"We revised the outlook as a result of our downgrade of the sovereign," Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Jean-Louis Renaud said.

On Monday, S&P cut by one notch its long- and short-term Romania’s foreign currency sovereign credit ratings to BB+/B and its local currency long-term rating to BBB-, citing risks to Romania’s economy due to high private-sector leverage and dependency on an uncertain external financing channel.

A BB+ rating is one level below investment-grade status, while a BBB- is one above.

The outlook on Bucharest is negative because the outlook on Romania is negative. The evolution of the ratings on Bucharest will follow those on Romania, according to a S&P press release.