Silence by Moody’s is of no concern

The silence from Moody’s last Friday, when it was supposed to issue its latest report and assessment on Greece, constitutes neither a surprise nor a negative sign. The rating agency has in the last few years made a habit of postponing its reports, which are usually followed by good news.

On Friday Moody’s postponed a total of 24 assessments, so Greece’s was not the exception. Last November the agency upgraded Greece’s rating to Ba3, and that was followed by several reports that gave a vote of confidence to the outlook of the Greek economy.

Postponements are usually in anticipation of significant developments, such as the start of the disbursements from the Next Generation EU fund, the results of the reopening of the economy, that has just started after the lockdown, and the further progress of the bad loans’ reduction.

A recent incident of report postponement was in September 2018, just after Greece had exited the bailout mechanism and changes were anticipated in Greek policy: Moody’s chose to wait until March 2019, when it gave Greece a double-notch upgrade, from B3 to B1.