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S&P affirms Britain’s AAA rating with stable outlook
Britain’s kept its AAA grade with a stable outlook at Standard & Poor’s as the ratings company disagreed with Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings on the risks to the government’s ability to pay its debts.
The coalition led by Prime Minister David Cameron will succeed in maintaining its focus on curbing the budget deficit, S&P said in a statement on Friday in London, as it praised the nation’s political institutions for their capacity to react “quickly” to economic challenges.
“The stable outlook reflects our current expectation that the UK government will implement the bulk of its fiscal consolidation programme and that economic growth will not falter more than what we currently project,” the ratings company said in the statement.
The decision contrasts with those of Moody’s and Fitch, both of which warned in the past two months that the UK faces the risk of losing its top grade. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has drawn on such threats to insist that the government “cannot waver” from its deficit-cutting commitment, which he reaffirmed in his March 21 budget. While the government’s austerity plan will “likely drag on economic growth,” S&P said that “the UK economy’s capacity to absorb shocks has improved.”
S&P also forecast the UK deficit will reach four per cent of gross domestic product in the fiscal year ending in 2016, more than the 2.9 per cent government estimate, as economic growth will probably fall short of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts. Government debt will peak in 2014, the ratings company said. Osborne last month maintained his plan to eliminate most of the budget deficit by 2017 in the biggest squeeze on public spending since World War II.
The stable outlook reflects S&P’s view that the government can keep cutting the deficit, that net debt as a percentage of GDP will stabilise by 2014, and that “the economic recovery will gain traction over the medium term,” the ratings company said.
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