Bulgaria Socialist Govt to Renew Contract with Fitch Agency

Bulgaria's Council of Ministers gave on Wednesday the go ahead to the finance minister to renew the contract with Fitch Ratings Ltd, which his predecessor suspended in 2010.

The contract was suspended by the previous government, which slammed as "manipulation of the public opinion" Fitch Ratings agency forecast of lowering the country's credit rating to junk.

The then finance ministry, part of the center-right government of Boyko Borisov, accused the ratings agency of trying to manipulate the public opinion by saying it will downgrade Bulgaria's rating a month after the government informed it of the possibility to stop using its services in a bid to cut costs.

"It is not right if a small country such as Bulgaria pays BGN 300,000 each year to be rated by yet another rating agencies," the then deputy finance minster Ana Mihaylova commented.

The statement echoed the comments of local analysts, according to whom the gloomy forecasts for Bulgaria that Fitch Ratings has made over the last few days are in response to the state decision to suspend its contract with the agency.

" We are talking here about blackmail par excellence," local financial expert Emil Harsev said.

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