Moody's lifts Greece's outlook to positive on reform progress

Moody's on Friday raised Greece's credit outlook to "positive" from "stable", pointing to structural reforms that are bolstering the country's economic and fiscal resilience.

The ratings agency affirmed Greece's "Baa3" sovereign rating, noting strong reform progress and improved public finances even as high debt and external imbalances persist.

The outlook upgrade comes as Greece appears set to repay €53 billion ($60.82 billion) in first-bailout loans extended by euro zone countries in 2010, doing so two years ahead of schedule. The early repayment is being supported by solid public finances and economic growth.

"Greater resilience would support the government's capacity to sustain this multi-decade process of debt reduction, including by continuing to prepay some of its crisis-era debt," Moody's said.

Since the 2009-2018 financial crisis, Greece has repeatedly exceeded its fiscal targets, aided by a crackdown on tax evasion and the rapid adoption of electronic payments.

The country's economy is growing at an annual rate of 2%, faster than the euro zone average, while its debt burden fell by more than 60 percentage points to 145.9% of GDP last year.

Among peer agencies, S&P and Fitch both hold "stable" outlooks on Greece, with ratings at "BBB".