Re: Postponement of euro adoption could weaken country's rating, Volume 12, Number 24, June 19 - June 25, 2006, Flash news briefs
To be truly objective, the S&P should report on and rate according to how things are, and not preempt on account of what it thinks about certain individuals and groups. Euro-introduction by 2009 is an aim, or goal even, of the outgoing coalition, but clearly not one of Smer's highest priorities. Nobody can know whether euro adoption by 2009 is actually economically beneficial, other than that it shows the world that the new Eurozone member has met the Maastricht criteria. A relatively new nation, still very much busy trying to create an economic identity, should keep its currency as an integral part of its steering mechanism until such time that the economy is much more in line with that of its western neighbours. By uttering what it did, S&P is basically saying "we only report for those who invest when a certain climate and environment is in place". There is nothing wrong with that, but maybe Slovakia does not want to be dictated to by multinationals who, when using the word "competition", actually mean "monopolism". It seems to escape the S&P that Smer may very well be a creation of precisely this kind of approach.
Oscar, De Panne,
Belgium
