Moody's Downgrades Ireland's Credit Rating

Ireland had its credit rating cut lowered one notch by Moody's Investors Service on "a significant loss of financial strength." Moody's lowered the country's rating to Aa2 from Aa1. The outlook on the new rating is "negative."

The cost of bailing out the country's banks is increasing pressures on Ireland's public finances, Bloomberg News reported. The country's recession forced it to run a budget deficit of 14.3% of GDP in 2009. That's the widest deficit in the eurozone.

"It's a gradual, significant deterioration, but not a sudden, dramatic shift," Dietmar Hornung, Moody's lead analyst for Ireland, told Bloomberg News.