{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Analysis as Fitch downgrades five eurozone nations' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c52dd8eafeecae16e458' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c52dd8eafeecae16e458' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nAnalysis as Fitch downgrades five eurozone nations\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eNew York, USA 1. Pan down of exterior Fitch corporate offices 2. People entering building3. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics consulting firm:\"I think this downgrade just sort of falls in...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eNew York, USA \u003cbr/\u003e1. Pan down of exterior Fitch corporate offices \u003cbr/\u003e2. People entering building\u003cbr/\u003e3. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics consulting firm:\u003cbr/\u003e\"I think this downgrade just sort of falls in line, we have more than one rating company, they don't all rate countries at the same time. We've previously seen these countries downgraded and now we are having another one of the ratings agencies go over that same ground again.\"\u003cbr/\u003e4. Wide of Brusca \u003cbr/\u003e5. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics consulting firm:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Because there have already been downgrades this isn't the first one and so this one doesn't have any big market effect. People look at their screens and they go 'downgrade, oh, oh, yeah, Fitch, this is the second one'. So this isn't really a big impact, but it underlines the case every time you see there is a downgrade and you read the assessments it just reminds you of what trouble there is.\"\u003cbr/\u003e6. Wide of Fitch \u003cbr/\u003eRome, Italy\u003cbr/\u003e7. Tilt down from FitchRatings logo to headline reading \"Fitch downgrades 5 Eurozone Sovereigns, Affirms 1\"\u003cbr/\u003eRome, Italy\u003cbr/\u003e8. Wide shot Coliseum\u003cbr/\u003e9. Medium shot street scene\u003cbr/\u003e10. SOUNDBITE (English) James Walston, Professor of International Relations at American University of Rome: \u003cbr/\u003e\"This is not a surprise, they are following the other agencies. Standard\u0026amp;Poor's did it last week, so this is something that has been predicted and is now being done. So it will not have a great deal of effect in the market.\"\u003cbr/\u003e11. Close up screen showing FitchRatings press release on downgrades\u003cbr/\u003e12. SOUNDBITE (English) James Walston - Professor of International Relations at American University of Rome: \u003cbr/\u003e\"There is a sense from all the experts, the markets as well, and most European governments, that we do need a greater degree of guarantee, we do need firewalls, this is the buzz word at the moment and this is more or less what Fitch has being saying. There have to be guarantees against future possible defaults or certainly problems with major debts.\"\u003cbr/\u003e13. Medium shot monitor showing Fitch homepage \u003cbr/\u003e14. SOUNDBITE (English) James Walston - Professor of International Relations at American University of Rome: \u003cbr/\u003e\"This is an advantage for people like (Italian Prime Minister) Monti, who can use it to push Chancellor Merkel to say \"We got to have Eurobonds\" or \"We have to have some sort of fund as a land of last resort within the European system\". So it is to the advantage of some of the nations in difficulties.\" \u003cbr/\u003e14. Wide shot Campo de' Fiori\u003cbr/\u003eUS ratings agency Fitch on Friday said it was downgrading the credit ratings of five countries that use the euro, including economic heavyweights Italy and Spain.\u003cbr/\u003eThe downgraded countries - also including Belgium, Cyprus and Slovenia - faced financial and economic difficulties due to the eurozone's debt crisis that could make it harder for them to repay their debts, Fitch said after financial markets closed in Europe.\u003cbr/\u003eThe agency lowered ratings for the five countries by one notch and placed a negative outlook on all of them. \u003cbr/\u003eItaly went down to A- credit rating while Spain was downgraded to A. \u003cbr/\u003eAdditionally, a sixth country, Ireland, saw its BBB+ rating affirmed but it also received a negative outlook.\u003cbr/\u003eThe Fitch downgrade carried a warning for Italy, a recent focus of the crisis because of its 1.9 (TR) trillion euros (2.5 trillion US dollars) in debt and sluggish, bureaucracy-choked economy.\u003cbr/\u003eThe agency said the third-largest eurozone economy would face permanently higher borrowing costs that would make it harder to keep its debt under control. \u003cbr/\u003eMore severe ratings action was only fended off by the \"strong commitment\" of the new Italian government under Prime Minister Mario Monti to balance the country's budget and make Italy a better place to do business.   \u003cbr/\u003eFriday's downgrade had been largely expected, as Fitch had said it was reviewing the countries' ratings. \u003cbr/\u003eIt was nonetheless another setback to European leaders' efforts to contain a crisis over too much government debt in some of the 17 countries that use the euro.\u003cbr/\u003eThe crisis-hit countries have seen a steep rise in the interest rates investors demand before they will buy their bonds. \u003cbr/\u003eIreland, Greece and Portugal have been cut off from bond market borrowing by fears that they might default and have had to take bailout loans from other eurozone governments and the International Monetary Fund.\u003cbr/\u003eFitch's decision comes on top of a similar move on nine eurozone nations by another ratings agency, Standard \u0026amp; Poor's, on 13 January.\u003cbr/\u003eSince the S\u0026amp;P downgrade, however, the borrowing costs of several countries that had been downgraded have actually gone down.\u003cbr/\u003eThe decrease reflected a recovery in investor confidence in those countries' economic policies and moves by the European Central Bank late last year to lend banks unlimited amounts of money at low interest rates to stabilise them.\u003cbr/\u003eFitch, nonetheless, cited the European Union's slow-moving approach to fundamental reform of how the euro currency is set up, as a major reason for its decision - as well as the lack in the interim of a credible financial \"firewall\" to protect countries that suddenly have trouble borrowing from 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