Gentlemen vs. Thieves

Chancellor says Government will compensate UK Government & military personnel whose bank accounts in Cyprus are subject to EU bailout levy

— Sky News Newsdesk (@SkyNewsBreak) March 17, 2013

UK Government Borrowing Rate (since 1703)

source: edmundconway.com

 

Moody’s downgrades UK to Aa1

London, 22 February 2013

Moody’s Investors Service has today downgraded the domestic- and foreign-currency government bond ratings of the United Kingdom by one notch to Aa1 from Aaa. The outlook on the ratings is now stable.

The key interrelated drivers of today’s action are:

1. The continuing weakness in the UK’s medium-term growth outlook, with a period of sluggish growth which Moody’s now expects will extend into the second half of the decade;

2. The challenges that subdued medium-term growth prospects pose to the government’s fiscal consolidation programme, which will now extend well into the next parliament;

3. And, as a consequence of the UK’s high and rising debt burden, a deterioration in the shock-absorption capacity of the government’s balance sheet, which is unlikely to reverse before 2016.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s EU Speech

SP revises UK outlook to negative; affirms AAA rating

• We now expect the United Kingdom’s net general government debt as a percentage of GDP to continue to rise in 2015, before declining again.
• Future employment or growth shocks could pressure government finances further.
• We are therefore revising our outlook on the unsolicited long-term ratings on the U.K. to negative, from stable, reflecting our view of a one-in-three chance that we could lower the ratings if the U.K.’s economic and fiscal performances weaken beyond our current expectations.
• We are affirming our ‘AAA/A-1+’ long- and short-term unsolicited sovereign credit ratings on the U.K.
• We have also revised to negative from stable the outlook on our ‘AAA’ ratings on the Bank of England and the debt program of Network Rail Infrastructure Finance PLC.