O que os outros lêem sobre nós

Companies & Markets é um apêndice que vem com o Financial Times e no número da passada terça-feira Portugal teve direito a uma coluna apertada - mas que ainda assim ocupava mais de metade da página - ao lado de uma grande foto de Jiang Jianqing que completava o artigo central: ICBC head plays down post-crisis loan risk, pouco importante para o caso.

Sobre Portugal dizia-se:

S&P cuts ratings of Portugal´s top five banks


Standard & Poor's has cut the credit ratings of Portugal´s fice largest banks and warned it could cut the country's sovereign debt rating for a second time within a week following the resignation of José Sovrates, the outgoing prime minister.
The bank downgrades follow S&P's decision to cut Portugal's long-term sovergein debt credit rating by two notches to triple B on Friday, after collapse of the sociallist of the Socialist government plunged the country into a period of political and financial uncertainty.
The rating agency warned on Monday that a further cut in Portugal's sovereign rating " could take place as early as this week". That would lower the rating to triple B minus one level above junk status.
The warning came as Aníbal Cavaco Silva, Portugal's President, continued consultations on resolving the crisis. He is expected to convene the Council of State, his main advisory body, this week to set a data for early elections, probably on May 29 or June 5.
After separate meetings with political leaders, Mr Cavaco Silva said on Monday that the three largest parties had expressed an "unequivocal commitment" to meeting the deficit reduction targets agreed by the outgoing government with the European Union.
S&P lowered the long-term rating of four banks - Banco Espirito Santo, Banco BPI, Caixa Geral de Depósitos and Banco Santander Totta - to triple B, in the line with the agency's sovereing rating ofr Portugal. The previous ratings were A for Santander Totta and A minus for BES, BPI and CGD.
The agency cut Millenium BCP's long-term rating from triple B plus to B minus.
Elena Iparraguirre, a credit analist with S&P, said that the banks had been downgraded because of an "increasingly difficult economic, finantial and operating environment in Portugal".
She said increasing policy uncertainty as a result of the political crisis would further undermine "already very weak confidence, increasing the funding difficulties of Portuguese banks", which have been forced to rely heavily on financing from the European Central Bank
Efforts to deal with funding difficulties by selling of international loans, reducing financial portfolios and increasing deposits would rein back lending and increase price competitions for retail deposits, she added.
This would put pressure on domestic demand and the ability of borrowers to pay off loans, "magnifying the negative effect if Portugal`s regression" on the domestic asset quality and profitability of Portuguese banks."

By Peter Wise in Lisbon

Acima de tudo, um artigo bem escrito: informativo, nao opinativo; gostava de ler mais assim noutros jornais.