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"Moody's changes the outlook on the United Kingdom's Aaa rating to negative

Moody's Investors Service has today changed the outlook on the United Kingdom's Aaa government bond rating to negative from stable.

The key drivers of today's action on the United Kingdom are:

1.) The increased uncertainty regarding the pace of fiscal consolidation in the UK due to materially weaker growth prospects over the next few years, with risks skewed to the downside. Any further abrupt economic or fiscal deterioration would put into question the government's ability to place the debt burden on a downward trajectory by fiscal year 2015-16.

2.) Although the UK is outside the euro area, the high risk of further shocks (economic, financial, or political) within the currency union are exerting negative pressure on the UK's Aaa rating given the country's trade and financial links with the euro area. Overall, Moody's believes that the considerable uncertainty over the prospects for institutional reform in the euro area and the region's weak macroeconomic outlook will continue to weigh on already fragile market confidence across Europe.

Concurrently, Moody's has today also changed to negative the outlook on the Aaa debt rating of the Bank of England in line with the change of outlook on the UK's sovereign rating.

RATIONALE FOR NEGATIVE OUTLOOK

The primary driver underlying Moody's decision to change the outlook on the UK's Aaa rating to negative is the weaker macroeconomic environment, which will challenge the government's efforts to place its debt burden on a downward trajectory over the coming years. These challenges, reflecting the combined effect of a commodity price driven hit to real incomes, the confidence shock from the euro area and a reassessment of the lasting effects of the financial crisis on potential output, were already evident in the government's Autumn Statement. The statement announced that a further two years of austerity measures would be needed in order for the government to meet its fiscal mandate of achieving a cyclically adjusted current budget balance by the end of a rolling five-year time horizon, and to reach its target of placing net public sector debt on a declining path by fiscal year 2015-16.

Moody's central expectation is that these objectives will be met, with a general government gross debt-to-GDP ratio peaking at just under 95% in 2014 or 2015, before gradually declining thereafter. However, Moody's expects the UK's debt to peak later, and at a higher level, than in most other Aaa-rated countries. Moreover, risks to the rating agency's forecasts are skewed to the downside. In part, these risks are the by-product of a necessary fiscal consolidation programme and the ongoing parallel deleveraging process in both the household and financial sectors. Moody's also believes that the further cutbacks announced last autumn indicate that the government has a reduced capacity to absorb further abrupt economic or fiscal deterioration without incurring a further slippage in its consolidation timetable.

A combination of a rising medium-term debt trajectory and lower-than-expected trend economic growth would put into question the government's ability to retain its Aaa rating. The UK's outstanding debt places it amongst the most heavily indebted of its Aaa-rated peers, alongside the United States and France whose Aaa ratings also carry a negative outlook."