The ratings agency Fitch on Thursday lowered Greece's credit worthiness to "CCC" from "B-", citing the risk that the country might leave the eurozone, dpa reported.
Fitch said failure to form a Greek government after the May 6 parliamentary election in which parties opposed to austerity measures demanded by the European Union and International Monetary Fund made a strong showing, signalled a lack of public support for a bailout deal.
If a new election scheduled for June 17 fail to produce a government with a mandate to implement the austerity measures, Greece's exit from the single currency bloc would be "probable," Fitch said, justifying its decision to cut the country's long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings.
"A Greek exit would likely result in widespread default on private sector as well as sovereign euro-denominated obligations, despite a moderate sovereign debt service burden following the restructuring of Greek government bonds in March," Fitch said in a statement.
In March, Greece completed a bond swap worth over 177 billion euros (2224 billion dollars) that drastically reduced its debt.