Moody’s slashes Italy’s credit rating

5 October 2011 9:14 am | By Joanne Ellul

Moody’s has cut Italy’s rating by three notches from Aa2 to A2, putting more pressure on the global markets.

The ratings agency blamed a “material increase in long-term funding risks for the euro area”, due to lost confidence in eurozone government debts.

Fellow ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has already cut its rating on Italy to a single A.

According to the BBC, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said the decision was expected.

Berlusconi said: “The Italian government is working with the maximum commitment to achieve its budget objectives.”

He said that a plan to balance the government’s budget by 2013 had been approved by the European Commission.

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