By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

April 23, 2010. The then Prime Minister George Papandreou from Kastelorizo formally requests Greece’s appeal to the European support mechanism.

4 days after the rating agency S&P “sheds” the first blood by removing the investment tier from the country.

On June 14 follows the Moody’s even causing the anger of the then Community Commissioner Ollie Wren, who had characterized it as a sudden and unfortunate decision.

On January 14, 2011 Fitch completed the exorcism of the country by the elit.

For 13 consecutive years, “pulling” the country out of the investment junk has been reduced to a national goal. A goal that Greece may achieve today as the Canadian rating agency DBRS “decides” in the evening, the fourth largest worldwide after the 3 American ones and which is recognized by the ECB.

If the country had not “drowned”, it is certain that the government would only be concerned with today’s decision as if the Canadians upgrade us, the prime minister would, among other things, take with him to Thessaloniki and TIF and the benefits of such a decision . Of course, these designs have gone for a walk, but the benefits are tangible.

The recovery of investment grade is first and foremost of symbolic importance. THE Hellas she stops after 13 years of belonging to the pariahs and tears down the last bridge that unites her with the sinful past of the memoirs, strengthening even more her contact with the famous normality.

In the non-symbolic part, one of the big gains for Greece are the so-called institutional investors such as e.g. foreign insurance funds. Investors whose articles of incorporation do not allow them to invest in countries in the junk category or allow very small holdings. Such investors buy bonds for savings, they do not liquidate them before their maturity, thus keeping the yields of the securities they own high.

The recovery of the investment grade generally opens the door to another, new, multi-trillion global world of which Greece will now be able to “claim” its share. It is considered certain that the upgrade will lead to more foreign direct investment which means more jobs and more growth.

The recovery of the investment grade means lower national credit risk which in turn translates into lower borrowing costs for the country which will be able to “bring” them for a ride even more easily. The country already borrows cheaper than Italy, e.g. which has an investment grade so the resulting possibilities are important for the sustainability of the debt.

Lower costs and therefore debt service means additional resources for public investment and tax cuts.

The reduction in borrowing costs for the Greek State it also means a drop in borrowing costs for Greek banks in the interbank market. In addition, they will borrow on better terms from the ECB as they are currently guaranteeing the Greek government bonds they have in their portfolio, which are cut by up to 50% and thus their liquidity will improve.

At the same time, they will be able to participate without asterisks and exclusions in the stimulus programs that may be decided by the ECB

They will thus be able to lend more easily and on a larger scale to households and businesses, contributing to development and offering competitive interest rates.

The “wind” of upgrading that has been blowing in recent months has also led to an increase in the stock market index by 40% since the beginning of the year. The capitalization, from €20 billion in January, is already at €90 billion and, according to analysts, the upgrade will continue. Because the Athens stock exchange will automatically go from emerging to developed markets. Which is – if I may use the term – as if it is entering the Champions League groups since in the category of emerging funds under management reach €6 trillion while in the developed ones they exceed €50 trillion. So many more funds to invest in Greek securities.

As it is not written in stone, DBRS in the evening may not return the country to the investment grade. But this does not mean that the “rules” for this year end. The country has 2 more opportunities before the turn of the year, the first on October 20 by S&P and the second on December 1 by Fitch.