Standard & Poor’s keeps Finland’s credit rating at AA+

The credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has reassigned Finland’s long-term credit rating at AA+.

In an economic analysis, Standard & Poor’s has maintained that Finland upholds very strong capacity to fulfill financial commitments and dubbed Finland’s economy as stable, reported the national broadcaster Yle.

The agency also said that Finland’s economic growth is exceeding the expectations; however, the country’s demographic structure, inflexible wage structure and high unemployment rate may hold the growth back.

Earlier, in August, the credit rating agency Fitch also reassigned Finland’s long-term credit rating at AA+.

Fitch saw “some evidence" of the efforts to implement structural reforms bearing fruit.

Fitch noted that following a labour market competitiveness enhancement, Finnish labour costs declined sharply compared to Sweden, Germany, and the eurozone at large.

In March 2016, Fitch downgraded Finland’s AAA rating to AA+, Standard & Poor’s did the same in the autumn of 2014, and another major credit rating agency, Moody, did it in June.

Structural limitations were responsible for making Finland’s public finance vulnerable and holding back the GDP growth, generating obstructions to Finland regaining the highest long-term credit rating of AAA.