Premier: Moody's Rating Means We're Managing Public Finances Responsibly

Bratislava, 15 June (TASR) - The Moody's rating, which confirmed on Friday Slovakia's current rating at A3 with a stable outlook, confirms that the government is managing public finances responsibly and that we're maintaining relatively good economic growth despite very serious external factors beyond our control, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) told a press conference on Sunday. "I must first of all congratulate Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (Smer-SD) on the fact that this is the third major credit rating agency to confirm its rating in a short time," stated Fico. In mid-May, Fitch Ratings affirmed Slovakia's rating at A- with a stable outlook, and in late April, Standard & Poor's (S&P) affirmed its rating at A+. However, the latter downgraded its outlook from stable to negative. Moody's itself downgraded Slovakia's rating by one notch to the current A3 with a stable outlook in a previous assessment at the end of last year. The premier stressed that according to Moody's, Slovakia is threatened mainly by external factors, namely the introduction of various tariffs from the United States and not the good economic situation in Germany, but at the same time the agency notes that these external risks are balanced by Slovakia's strong ability to attract foreign investment. am