Credit Rating: EU rescue fund gets top rating boost

BRUSSELS: The eurozone’s rescue fund said Saturday that triple-As from all three rating agencies should help reassure investors who had begun to question whether a just-reached debt crisis deal will really get to the root of the region’s problems. The across-the-board AAA rating came a day after the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) chief Klaus Regling was in Beijing courting Chinese investment to support the crucial bailout fund. The highest possible rating was confirmed on the basis of amendments decided in July that took effect on October 18, bringing the fund’s lending capacity to 440 billion euros ($622 billion), with a guarantee commitment of 780 billion euros, EFSF said in a statement.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2011.