ATHENS – Moody's on Tuesday revised the long-term outlook of five Greek banks (Alpha Bank, Attica Bank, National Bank, Pancreta Cooperative Bank and Piraeus Bank) to stable from positive and confirmed the credit rating of all five banks. In an announcement, the credit rating agency said the basic reason for the change in outllook was that it expected a delay in implementing the banks' strategic plans to further improve the quality of their assets and their profitability in 2020-2021 because of the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic on the Greek economy.

Moody's said that a slowdown of economic activity will not only negatively affect the already weak profits of Greek banks but will significantly affect their ability to reduce their non-performing exposures (NPEs). Moody's said it expected Greek GDP to contract by around 5.0 pct this year and to recover by a 4.0 pct growth rate in 2021.