The Andalusian regional government, La Junta de Andalucía, had harsh words for the American credit-rating agency, Moodys, which has just reduced by two levels the Junta’s credit rating to junk level.
The Junta’s Spokesman, Miguel Ángel Vázquez, considers that you cannot give any credibility to an agency that gives better ratings to those that hire them than to those that don’t. “It’s the rating agency that has a trash rating as far as credibility goes,” he said.
Both Andalucía and Extremadura now joint the ‘damned ranks’ with Castilla La Mancha, Cataluña and Murcia.
Sr Vázquez denies that having asked the Central Government for a bailout influenced the rating agency’s decision, despite the fact that the other regions that have asked for a FLA bailout are precisely the ones that Andalucía now joins; i.e., Castilla La Mancha etc.
Whatever the case, Fitch Ratings and Standard and Poor do not share Moodys‘ calculations… for the moment.
Seaside Gazette
15 October 2012
