Moody's downgrades British austerity drive

Rating agency Moody's stripped the UK of its top credit rating on Friday, pointing to slow growth and deep indebtedness. Moody's has failed to recognise how crucial the British austerity drive is, the liberal daily Corriere del Ticino regrets: "According to Moody's the austerity policy is also to blame for the gloomy economic outlook. ... But it's difficult to follow this argument. Because if you want to reduce the huge debts that are one of the reasons for the downgrading, belt-tightening measures are imperative. You can call for a combination of growth incentives and austerity measures, but beyond doubt countries with high levels of public debt need to gradually reduce their mountain of debt in order to ensure solid growth. One may not see eye to eye with the conservative-liberal government in London, but its will to reduce the debt mainly through cutbacks in government spending should not be dismissed as unimportant."

» to the homepage (external link, Corriere del Ticino)
More from the press review on the subject » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Financial Markets, » United Kingdom
All available articles from » Lino Terlizzi

» To the complete press review of Monday, February 25, 2013