Economics
Hungary Suffers Second Downgrade to Junk as IMF Talks Stall
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s drive to consolidate power at the cost of delaying an International Monetary Fund bailout prompted Standard and Poor’s to become the second ratings company in a month to downgrade the country’s debt to junk.
Hungary’s sovereign-credit ratings were cut one step to BB+ from BBB-, S&P, which had rated the eastern European nation at investment grade since 1996, said yesterday in a statement, assigning a negative outlook. Moody’s Investors Service lowered its assessment to Ba1, the highest junk grade, on Nov. 24, while Fitch Ratings has assigned its lowest investment grade, BBB-.