Credit rating agency Fitch has left its assessment of Ireland's creditworthiness unchanged after a review of the implications for the economy of last month's stress tests on the banks.
Earlier this month, Fitch said it had placed Ireland's current BBB+ debt rating on what it calls 'credit watch negative', meaning a downgrade was likely. But it has now decided against a downgrade.
This evening, Fitch said the stress tests offered a 'credible assessment' of how much more money Irish banks would need to cope with further loan losses.
But it warned that it was too early to say whether the additional capital would stabilise the banks' funding position.
Fitch said the Irish economy appeared to be 'nearing stabilisation', though significant threats to a recovery remained. It also lowered its growth forecast for this year to 0.5% from the 1.5% estimate it made last December.
But Fitch said 'ambitious' targets to cut the budget deficit under the EU/IMF programme were achievable.
