Greek debt gets downgraded as Yanis Varoufakis heads to Washington
Greece’s debt was downgraded further into junk territory yesterday while Germany’s finance minister cast doubt on hopes that a deal on more funding for the country could be struck next week.
Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s downgraded the country’s debt further into junk to CCC+/C from B-/B.
“Without deep economic reform or further relief, we expect Greece’s debt and other financial commitments will be unsustainable,” the company said.
German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble yesterday vented his frustration at the lack of progress made on negotiations.
“No one has a clue how we can reach agreement on an ambitious programme,” he told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “We have the next Eurogroup meeting at the end of the coming week, but nobody expects that there will be a solution.”
Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis will head to Washington DC today where he will talk at the Brookings Institution before a possible meeting with President Barack Obama. He is also set to meet European Central Bank head Mario Draghi tomorrow as well as infamous sovereign debt lawyer Lee Buchheit, City PM understands.