MADRID (Standard&Poor's) Nov. 4, 2015--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that the resignation of Prime Minister Victor Ponta has no immediate impact on the sovereign credit ratings on Romania (BBB-/Stable/A-3). The Prime Minister resigned following protests triggered by a fire in a Bucharest nightclub. Mr. Ponta was already under investigation on corruption charges. We do not expect the resignation to trigger snap elections. However, we do not rule out the possibility of further fiscal loosening, as the Prime Minister's party might try to regain any loss in popularity ahead of scheduled elections in 2016. We already factor in deterioration in the general government deficit to 2.7% in 2016 from our projection of 1.2% in 2015, accounting for
