ATHENS – Greek Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said he wasn’t surprised when Moody’s, arguably the most influential of ratings agencies, didn’t go along with others who raised Greece’s credit rating to investment status after years of being in junk mode.

“Moody’s upgraded the Greek economy by two notches in the fall, and it was almost impossible to upgrade it again so quickly,” Hatzidakis said, not showing any apparent displeasure it wasn’t raised more.

“Those who estimated that Moody’s would upgrade the Greek economy are not familiar with these issues. We didn’t expect it,” Minister of National Economy and Finance he said in an interview with ANT1 TV.

Moody’s kept the rating unchanged one notch below investment grade and the outlook stable as Greece is accelerating a recovery from a 2010-18 economic and austerity crisis that almost pushed the country out of the Eurozone of those using the euro.

“Greece has acquired the investment grade while the Economist ranks Greece 1st out of 82 countries in terms of improving the business environment. We do not claim that people eat with golden spoons. But, many who were unemployed have now found work,” he said.

Banks are booming, though, bringing in big profits and the New Democracy government said it wanted to limit fees and commissions, including for credit cards charging high interest while depositors are paid paltry interest in their accounts.

“Soon we will have good news,” he stated, citing the “alternative tool, the IRIS, which allows citizens to avoid commission for money transfers of up to €500 ($549.95) to save them money.