(Adds details from call)
MADRID, April 28 (Reuters) - A Standard & Poor's analyst said that Spain was still deemed to have a firm ability to meet its debt obligations after the agency downgraded the country's sovereign debt rating to AA from AA-plus.
"Spain's ability to meets its obligations as an issuer is very strong and has not changed," S&P analyst Javier Cantavella Nadal said in a conference call. Analyst Marko Mrnsik added on the same call that he expected Spain to meet its budget deficit target this year.
Spain aims to cut is deficit to 9.8 percent this year after it rose to 11.2 percent in 2009. The government said it was still on course to meet the EU's guideline of cutting its deficit to 3 percent by 2013.
Mrnsik added there were fundamental differences between Spain, Portugal and Greece. (Reporting by Jesus Aguado; writing by Nigel Davies)