Portugal's finance minister sees steady credit ratings despite budget rejection
LISBON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Portugal's government does not expect any downgrades from credit rating agencies after parliament last week rejected the 2022 budget bill in a move likely to trigger snap elections, Finance Minister Joao Leao told reporters on Wednesday.
"After the pandemic crisis, Portugal was one of the first countries to have its rating not downgraded, but upgraded," he said, referring to a move by Moody's Investors Service in September. The same agency warned on Monday, however, that the rejection of the budget was "credit negative" and could hamper the country's ability to tap EU recovery funds.
"We do not expect this risk" of any downgrades to materialise, Leao said, adding though that further improvements in credit ratings that the government had been hoping for "will have to wait" until political stability is reestablished.
(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves, writing by Andrei Khalip, editing by Nathan Allen)
