Despite signs of resilience in economic performance during 2011, we see heightened risks to Spain's growth prospects due to high unemployment, tighter financial conditions, the still high level of private sector debt, and the likely economic slowdown in Spain's main trading partners. The financial profile of the Spanish banking system will, in our opinion, weaken further, with the stock of problematic assets rising further, as highlighted by the recent revision in our Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment on Spain to Group 4 from Group 3. As a consequence, we are lowering our long-term sovereign credit ratings on Spain to 'AA-' from 'AA'. The outlook on the long-term rating is negative. On Oct. 13, 2011, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered
