Fitch says Greek rating cut unlikely for few months

ATHENS (Reuters) - Fitch Ratings expects to keep Greece's BBB+ rating unchanged for the next few months barring surprises and is maintaining its negative outlook, a senior Fitch analyst told Reuters on Thursday.

Asked if Fitch might cut Greece's rating in the coming months, Chris Pryce said in a telephone interview: "It is possible, but I won't say it is likely. I don't expect things to go widely wrong or right in the next few months. Provided things go as we expect, we'll leave the current rating as it is for a few months."

Pryce said Greece's report to the European Commission mid-March and a widely expected upcoming bond issue by Greek debt agency PDMA would be of particular significance.

"We won't be changing our negative outlook for some time. The issue is whether we will cut (the rating) further, right now we are not," he said.

Fitch Ratings cut Greece's debt to BBB+ in December with a negative outlook, the first time in 10 years a major ratings agency put Greece below an A grade, citing fiscal deterioration in the euro zone's weakest member.

Pryce said a concrete EU package for Greece would support the rating but pointed at that the bloc had so far been reluctant to provide such aid.

"If there was concrete EU help, available on certain terms known in advance, then clearly it would be a strong point for the rating," he said.

"However, the EU has avoided doing that so far. Its position is still that it expects Greece to sort itself out, so it's obvious that they are still worried about the moral hazard aspect of the whole operation and don't want to encourage Greece to think it can get away with less cuts."

(Reporting by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Toby Chopra)