ATHENS, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Greece welcomed on Saturday the upgrade of Greek economy's credit rating by Standard & Poor's to B from "B-" as one more sign that the hard times come to an end and the country is moving steadily on the recovery path.

"The positive developments that strengthen the feeling that the markets and investors' confidence in the Greek economy is being steadily restored are not isolated incidents anymore," commented the Greek Finance Ministry according to an e-mailed statement.

The Greek officials noted that the S&P upgrade follows similar positive announcements by Moody's and Fitch last summer, saying that "this is a hint for further positive developments in the future".

The Greek economy will leave behind the long period of crisis with the conclusion of the third bailout program in August 2018 and by safeguarding its stable access to the markets, the ministry statement added.

Regarding the coming days, according to the press release, on Monday during the Eurogroup meeting it was expected that the third review of the program will be formally concluded and euro zone ministers will give the green light for the disbursement of the next 6.7 billion euro (8.2 billion U.S. dollars) loan installment.