MADRID (Bloomberg) — Spain had its AAA sovereign credit rating removed by Standard & Poor's in the second downgrade of a euro-region government in five days, as the country's first recession in 15 years swelled the budget deficit.

The risk of losses on Spanish government debt rose to a record today, credit-default swaps showed, after S&P lowered the rating one step to AA+ and assigned it a "stable" outlook. It was S&P's first reduction in Spain's rating and puts it on the same level as Belgium and Hong Kong.

The cost of economic stimulus packages and bank bailouts is boosting budget deficits around the euro-region, fuelling concern governments will have difficulty paying their debt. S&P cut Greece's rating one step to A- on January 14. A day earlier, it threatened to downgrade Portugal's debt. S&P also reduced the outlook on Ireland's rating to negative from stable.