Fitch has maintained the sovereign ratings of Germany with ‘stable’ outlook. The rating agency said the ‘AAA’ rating reflects Germany’s diversified, high value-added economy, strong institutions and history of sound public debt management, RTTNews reported. A large structural current account surplus, above 7% of GDP since 2014, supports the country’s net external creditor position, the agency said. Fitch noted that government debt, at 68% of GDP in 2016, was higher than the ‘AAA’ median of 41% but was on a firmly downward path. Fitch forecasts general government surpluses of 0.6% of GDP in 2017 and 0.4% in 2018 and 2019, within Germany’s Stability Program targets and only slightly lower than last year’s surplus of 0.8%. At the same time, general government debt was forecast to fall to 62.5% in 2018. The agency expects GDP growth this year to match the 2016 rate of 1.9%, and moderate to 1.7% in 2018 and 1.4% in 2019.
Add new comment
Read our comment policy before posting your viewpoints