...Downgrades Exceed Upgrades: European sovereign economic and political challenges, resulted in the negative rating drift for international public finance (IPF) in 2014. Europe accounts for over 80% of Fitch-rated IPF ratings and nearly all of the sector's downgrades for 2014. Downgrades outpaced upgrades by 2.2 to 1, a narrower margin than the 5.4 to 1 in 2013. The resulting 2014 IPF downgrade rate was 15.7% and the upgrade rate, 7.2%, compared with 26.2% and 4.9%, respectively, in 2013. Sovereign Moves Reflected: Sovereign downgrades of France and Ukraine, as well as Argentina's default triggered respective downgrades of IPF entities. These downgrades accounted for nearly 80% of the year's sector downgrades. Conversely, Spain's sovereign upgrade ¡ reflecting improved financing conditions and economic outlook ¡ affected ratings of both public entities and local and regional governments (LRGs) accounting for the bulk of upgrades. No Defaults Recorded in 2014: There were no Fitch-rated IPF...
