The Italian government on Tuesday denounced a decision by Standard & Poor's to downgrade its sovereign debt rating, saying the move had been clouded by political considerations.
"The evaluation by Standard & Poor's appears to have been dictated more by newspaper backchat than by the reality on the ground and it appears to have been clouded by political considerations," the government said in a statement.
"The government has always had the confidence of parliament, demonstrating the solidity of its majority," the statement said, referring to the ratings agency's evaluation of the stability of the ruling coalition.
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"We should remind ourselves that Italy has adopted measures aimed at restoring budget balance by 2013 and that the government is preparing measures to support growth that will see results in the short and medium term," it said.
Standard & Poor's on Monday downgraded Italy's sovereign debt rating, citing economic, fiscal and political weaknesses in a fresh blow to Silvio Berlusconi's coalition government.
The rating agency said it had downgraded Italian debt to "A/A-1" from a "A+/A-1+" grade because of "Italy's weakening economic growth prospects."
It added that Italy's weak governing coalition would "limit the government's ability to respond decisively" to events.
"We believe the reduced pace of Italy's economic activity to date will make the government's revised fiscal targets difficult to achieve," S&P said in a statement.
