The international ratings agency Standard and Poor's on Tuesday decided to lower its rating of the Autonomous Community of Valencia in Spain.

The east coast region, which is governed by the Popular Party (PP), saw its debt rating lowered from BBB- down to BB, which means it is quite close to being worthless to potential investors, according to S&P.

The ratings agency based the new rating on doubts it maintains over the support Spanish central government will give to the region.

"Valencia has a weakened credit profile with high fiscal deficits a high level of debt and limited access to external financial aid beyond that if that of the Kingdom of Spain," said S&P.

The move followed Moody's downgrading of Valencia just before the end of 2011.

It came just 24 hours after Spain's Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro confirmed that Spain ended 2011 with a state deficit of 8.51 percent of GDP, as opposed to the expected 6 percent.

Montoro highlighted that the debts of Spain's autonomous communities, most of which are under the control of the PP, were higher than the central government had expected.

Two regions of Navarra and Andalusia insisted the level of their deficit is lower than Montoro's claims.