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BRUSSELS—The Eurozone's bailout fund was downgraded by one notch to AA+ by the US ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Monday (16 January)—a move likely to put an extra financial burden on contributing nations, many of whom were themselves downgraded last week. Designed to fund the rescue packages for Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) owed its triple A rating to guarantees from eurozone countries, two of which—France and Austria—saw their own top rating cut by one notch on Friday, along with other countries further down the ratings ladder. “The EFSF’s obligations are no longer fully...

S&P has stripped the eurozone bail-out fund of its AAA crown, saying it is "no longer fully supported by guarantees from EFSF members rated AAA". Here is its statement in full. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today lowered the 'AAA' long-term issuer credit rating on the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to 'AA+' from 'AAA' and affirmed the short-term issuer credit rating at 'A-1+'. We removed the ratings from CreditWatch, where they had been placed with negative implications on Dec. 6, 2011. The outlook is developing. When we announced the placement of the ratings on the EFSF on CreditWatch on...