Germany on a credit rating "warning"

I commented yesterday on Germany and one of the reasons why they are reluctant to go all in on bailing out the bad debt EU countries.  Today the credit rating agency Moody's has put a negative warning on Germany's AAA credit rating, which means there is a possibility of it being downgraded in the next two years.

A negative outlook posting from Moody's, one of a handful of agencies that assess the creditworthiness of borrowers, reflects a higher risk that the actual rating will be cut at some point in the next two years. 

Moody's said there was an increased chance that Greece could leave the euro zone, which "would set off a chain of financial sector shocks". 

It added that policymakers could only contain these shocks at a very high cost. 

'Burden' 

Moody's warned that Germany and other highly-rated countries may have to increase levels of support for countries such as Spain and Italy, who have not asked for a Greek-style bailout but who are struggling with high debt levels. 

This is the risk that Germany has to weigh up when deciding on its commitment to the bad debt nations of the EU. Germany cannot afford for itself to be judged as negative by the markets.  It perhaps goes some way to explain why despite numerous summits over the last 2-3 years, the level of full commitment to resolving the crisis that the Markets would like to see Germany give has not been forthcoming.

Source http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18963810