Greece has suffered its Second Credit Rating Downgrade in a Week

Standard & Poor’s said the fiscal measures just announced are unlikely to lead to a “sustainable” reduction of the crisis hit country’s public debt.
And it warned another downgrade is possible if the government does not get domestic political support for its reforms. In response shares of Greek banks slid further.
The budget deficit is at 12.7 percent of GDP and public debt is 113.4 percent.
Standard & Poor’s followed Fitch’s by dropping Greece’s rating to BBB plus from A minus.
Communist backed trade unions have launched a series of strikes in protest at the planned austerity measures.
Port workers joined the strike. One said: “The changes the government wants to make against the working class are such that the workers how no choice but to strike.”
The country’s largest trade unions did not however participate in the rallies saying they will wait to hear details of the plan before considering protests and not everyone supports the protests.
On the streets of Athens one woman said “They don’t achieve anything. Nothing changes, whatever they do. We’re all dependent on our Prime Minister, that’s it.”
And there was more bad news for the Greek government as the latest figures showed unemployment rose to 9.3 percent of the working population in the third quarter with big job losses in construction and retailing.

Finance