Celtic Tiger

Have you seen this tiger? jagian/flickr

 

Ireland just had its government bond rating lowered one level by Moody's Investors Services -- to Aa1 from Aaa. The company also gave Ireland a "negative" outlook, meaning it's likely to decrease even more within in the coming months. Standard & Poor's has already downgraded its rating of Ireland twice this year, and Fitch knocked it down one level in April.

Ireland's suffered one of the worst crashes since the recession began. After riding a huge boom for over a decade, empty houses litter the countryside and the country's deficit is set to rise to 10.8 percent of GDP -- three times the European Union limit.

categories: Europe's Financial Crisis

10:33 - July 2, 2009