Despite the political impasse, Spain's GDP growth should continue to exceed the eurozone average over 2019-2022, while the country's external balance sheet and budgetary position continues to improve. We expect the budget deficit this year to decline further to about 2% of GDP. As a result, we are raising our unsolicited long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings on Spain to 'A/A-1' from 'A-/A-2'. The outlook is stable. On Sept. 20, 2019, S&P Global Ratings raised its unsolicited foreign and local currency long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings on Spain to 'A/A-1' from 'A-/A-2'. The outlook is stable. The stable outlook reflects our view of balanced risks to Spain's creditworthiness and our expectation that, despite the ongoing political stalemate, the sovereign's
