Lots of countries in Europe have still been jolting due to the aftermath of the financial crisis. However, Germany is enjoying its status of the pillar which underpins the European stability. Standard & Poor's, one of the leading global credit rating agencies again affirmed Germany’s sovereign rating in the local and foreign currencies at the highest level AAA with a stable outlook. Specialists from Standard & Poor's scrutinized the economic and political state of affairs in the country and acknowledged their previous high assessment. In their survey, experts defined with appraisal the sustainable pattern of Germany’s economy which managed to recover from the global crisis effects and gained momentum for further development. Analysts of Standard & Poor's highlighted, “Germany has a highly diversified and competitive economy.” The outlook on the long-term economic development of Germany remains positive. The economic growth is expected to be at least 1.5% annually for the period since 2014 up until 2016 after the GDP declined 0.5% last year. However, headwinds that might hinder these plans are some ailing neighbors in the E.U., such as Italy, Spain, and Greece as the export sales to these regions account for 4% of Germany’s GDP. High ranking placements and a positive outlook are influenced by a considerable margin of the treasury funds helping withstand during a crisis. Nevertheless, rankings shuffle frequently for various reasons, such as a big public debt or force majeure circumstances in the banking sector. Such factors may push the ranking down. It should be reminded that in 2013 Standard & Poor's lowered the E.U.’s credit rating to AA+ with a stable outlook. Such a downgrade was due to a worsening credit solvency of 28 E.U. countries.
