Scope Ratings confirms Poland's rating at A+ and lowers the outlook to negative

The German agency Scope Ratings confirmed the long-term rating of Poland in a foreign currency at A+ and lowered its outlook to negative from stable. The downgrade is due to the weakening of the quality of government and the deterioration of relations with the EU, as well as the deterioration of public finances after the pandemic.

Scope's rating scale covers 20 levels. A+ is the fifth-highest level of the rating.

According to the agency, two main factors are responsible for the downgrade of the rating outlook. The first is the long-term trend of weakening governance and the ever-growing tensions between the Polish government and the EU, which increasingly affects the still solid prospects for economic growth. They also have an impact on the fiscal position of the government and question the predictability of EU funding or conditional support from the EU in unfavorable economic scenarios. The second is the weakening of public finances in Poland since the Covid-19 crisis, with the unlikely prospect of fully getting rid of the debt increase associated with it in the medium term, which is in line with relatively higher fiscal weaknesses after the crisis.

(PAP)