Fico: Rating Downgrade Has No Fundamental Impact, Opposition Revels in Bad News

Bratislava, 26 April (TASR) - The downgrade of Slovakia's rating by Standard and Poor's (S&P) was expected given external and domestic circumstances and has no fundamental impact on the state's ability to fund itself, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stated on a social network on Saturday (25 April), criticising the opposition for rejoicing over such "insignificant negative news". "Considering the external factors and our efforts to find internal resources to support the economy, which naturally prevents us from drastically reducing the deficit, we expected that Slovakia's rating could be lowered, which has now happened. This decision has no fundamental impact on our external financing, as we consistently remain within a stable band," emphasised Fico. He stated that the opposition is not able to criticise the government for rising prices or unemployment, so they'll seize on any opportunity. "It's ridiculous to see them jumping for joy at the lowered rating today, even though they know it has no fundamental negative impact on Slovakia. Their 'the worse for Slovakia, the better for us' mentality is so deeply ingrained that they take delight in any negative news, however insignificant it may be," Fico stated, pointing out that in 2023, previous governments handed over the worst public finances in the entire European Union to the current government. On Friday (24 April), the Standard and Poor's (S&P) rating agency has lowered Slovakia's rating from 'A+' with negative outlook to 'A' with stable outlook. In response, representatives of several opposition parties stated on Saturday (25 April) that the downgrade is proof of the government's poor fiscal policy, with Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (Smer-SD) being primarily responsible for this. Therefore, they called on Kamenicky to resign. Kamenicky rejected the criticism, saying the downgrade of S&P's rating was expected. He pointed out that Slovakia remains in the investment grade and its rating is still one notch higher than those from the other two major agencies, Moody's and Fitch. jrg