Fitch affirms Germany's top-notch debt rating

International credit rating agency Fitch affirmed Friday the top-notch triple-A rating on Germany's sovereign debt and said the outlook was stable. "Germany continues to have the components of a declining public debt path. The economy is growing, the budget position is relatively favourable and nominal interest rates are low," Fitch said in a statement. The ratio of general government debt to gross domestic product (GDP) "has already started to fall in Germany, unlike its 'AAA'-rated eurozone peers" and France, Britain and the United States, the rating agency said. Fitch estimates that Germany's debt ratio has eased to around 79.4 percent in 2013 from 81 percent in 2012. As Europe's paymaster, Germany has been the biggest contributor to the bailout programmes for its struggling neighbours, but that financial burden is continuing to ease "on improved regional governance, economic recovery and policy of the European Central Bank," Fitch argued. And "the risk to public finances from the prospects of further sovereign support for German domestic banks remains low," it added. Germany enjoys triple-A ratings from the three leading agencies, Fitch, Standard & Poor's and Moody's.