Spread for Greek 10-year bond continues to ease

The spreads for Greece’s benchmark 10-year bond were moving under 125 basis points on Thursday, shortly before a highly-anticipated new evaluation of the country’s creditworthiness by Fitch Ratings.

The outgoing Mitsotakis government had repeatedly pointed to the restoration of investment grade for the country – by the handful of international ratings agencies – as a major milestone. If Fitch proceeds with the upgrade on Friday, then this will serve as a distinct fillip for the incumbent prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and his center-right New Democracy (ND) party.

In an assessment this week, Citigroup didn’t rule out an upgrade by Fitch, although saying an upgrade of Greece’s outlook to positive is more likely.

“The result of the first round of elections and the rapid reduction of debt/GDP strengthened the outlook for an upgrade for Greece, which is the only country in the Eurozone with room for an increase in its rating at the moment,” the Citi report stated.

The yield of the 10-year Greek bond on Thursday eased to 3.74 percent.

Fitch upgraded the Greek economy to BB+ from BB last January, with the outlook remaining stable, one notch below investment grade.