Moody’s report awaited Friday

Moody’s credit rating report comes out on Friday, with turbulent global markets also affecting the Athens Stock Exchange, whose main index has lost 12 percent this month.

In a report last month, Moody’s had noted both Greece’s negatives (high debt, mediocre economic prospects, weak banking sector) and positives (relatively wealthy population, low debt servicing costs, eurozone support) and had tied any prospects of a credit upgrade to the implementation of reforms.

Moody’s, along with Standard & Poor’s, ranks Greece four notches below investment grade and a notch below Fitch, which, on August 2, maintained Greece’s rating at BB- with stable prospects.

Besides the rating agencies’ reports, the government also sees two events positively impacting the country’s attractiveness to investors: the complete elimination of capital controls in September, which, contrary to rumors, will not be put off because of the market turbulence, and the certain approval by the eurozone of an early repayment of International Monetary Fund loans.