The international credit rating agency Standard and Poor's has lowered Grenada's rating from B plus to triple C plus and this latest rating has not gone down well with the country's finance minister Anthony Boatswain. Boatswain told Caribbean Net News that the agency downgraded the rating on a wrong premise. "The main reason why they have downgraded Grenada from B minus to triple C plus as they indicated is due to arrears on domestic commercial debts in the banks; this is not true," he said. The finance minister said there are no arrears at domestic commercial banks and they have written to Standard and Poor's indicating that this is not correct and they should reverse the rating. The agency noted that the government should improve its financial position and show a track record of timely debt payments. This, according to the report, would bring the credit rating back up. But Boatswain said the resources pledged after hurricanes Ivan and Emily were not all deposited. He said only 50 percent of the pledges were made and this brought pressure on the government's limited fiscal resource. "If we had received all the pledges that were made at the different conferences, the fiscal situation would not be as it is." Boatswain said the government had to revert to their internal resources and mobilize domestic resources from what ever means in order to meet the demand for the rebuilding of the country. Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com