Cyprus finance minister slams ratings agencies

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus’ finance minister says international credit rating agencies are responsible for fanning Europe’s financial crisis.

Kikis Kazamias is accusing agencies of “fear-mongering” and that their downgrades turn into self-fulfilling prophesies.

Kazamias said Friday that back-to-back downgrades of Cyprus and its top three banks by Moody’s over the last week lack “a substantial, serious basis” and are “assumptions on worst-case scenarios.”

He said rating agencies are “part of the problem and must be dealt with.”

Moody’s downgraded the eurozone member to a step above junk status, mainly because of its banks’ heavy Greek exposure.

His comments come as S&P has been slammed by France for accidentally putting out a statement saying Europe’s second-largest economy was being downgraded.