Moody’s will decide in April if it will remove Portugal from the “junk” status
The only rating agency that still places the Portuguese debt in a speculative investment level will reassess the country on April 20. On that same day, DBRS will also update the rating.
Moody’s, the only rating agency that still has Portugal under a “junk” status, should only review the country’s rating on April 20, according to the 2018 calendar disclosed by the company.
According to the four largest rating agencies’ most recent calendars for reviewing the 2018 ratings, Standard&Poor’s will be the first to assess Portugal this year (on March 16), followed by Moody’s and DBRS (both on April 20) and, lastly, Fitch (on June 1).
Among these four agencies, Moody’s is the only one who still gives the Portuguese debt a speculative grading, of Ba1 (the highest level within the junk status), with a positive outlook, which means that, in the next assessment to Portugal, on April 20, the agency should improve the rating granted to the Portuguese sovereign debt.
The second round of assessments to the Portuguese public debt begin with S&P on September 14, followed by Moody’s and DBRS on October 13 and ending on November 30 with Fitch.
