S&P downgrades eurozone's bailout fund EFSF

 　　LONDON, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Ratings agency Standard & Poor's lowered the AAA long-term issuer credit rating of European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), eurozone's rescue fund, to AA+ from AAA on Monday.

　　The ratings agency cited the "now-reduced creditworthiness of the EFSF's guarantors" and the absence of "securities backing the EFSF's issues" as reasons of its downgrade.

　　"We consider that credit enhancements that would offset¹ what we view as the now-reduced creditworthiness of the EFSF's guarantors and securities backing the EFSF's issues are currently not in place," S&P added.

　　The move followed the S&P downgrade of nine eurozone countries last Friday, including France and Austria, leaving only Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands the AAA rated EFSF members.

　　EFSF rating is based on the ratings of the countries that guarantee it.

　　Following the lowering of the ratings on France and Austria, the rated long-term debt instruments already issued by the EFSF are no longer fully² supported by guarantees from the EFSF guarantor members rated AAA by Standard & Poor's, or AAA rated liquid securities. Instead, they are now covered by guarantees from guarantor members or securities rated AAA or AA+.

1 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。