S&P upgrades Cyprus on strong budget performance
Rating agency Standard & Poor's has upgraded European economic struggler Cyprus, citing a strong budgetary performance.
The EU and the International Monetary Fund bailed out Cyprus to the tune of €10bn a year or so ago after the Mediterranean island's banks over-exposed themselves to indebted property companies.
The crisis prompted rating agencies to downgrade Cypriot government bond credit ratings to junk status.
But S&P said on Friday that it had raised Nicosia's long-term ratings to 'B+' from 'B' with a stable outlook.
The agency said it believed Cyprus was strongly committed to its economic adjustment programme.
Its economy had proved resilient, especially in the key service sector, and had contracted less than S&P had anticipated.
S&P added: "Cyprus' budgetary performance is outperforming our expectations while its debt profile continues to benefit from IMF and European Stability Mechanism (ESM) financing.
"The outlook is stable, balancing our view of progress in economic and budgetary adjustment against outstanding challenges in the financial sector."