Debt ratios are far higher in the Eurozone than the federal govt in the US, and the eurozone national govts are subject to liquidity crisis risk much like the US States.
Could there be some kind of anti US bias at Moody’s???
Rising Debts in Europe Won’t Trigger Downgrades, Moody’s Says
Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) — European countries’ rising debt won’t trigger across-the-board credit-rating downgrades because countries are measured relative to each other, Moody’s Investors Service said.
The worst recession in six decades and the stimulus measures used to moderate its effects are going to drive debt levels up in the euro zone and in the European Union over the next two years, the European Commission predicts.
“We are doing relative ranking of sovereign risk within peer groups,†Alexander Kockerbeck, a senior European analyst for Moody’s, said in an interview. “Part of the quality of an AAA country is to be able to absorb a shock of this kind.â€
Moody’s ranks Germany and France among the countries with the highest credit ratings. European governments spent billions of euros to fight the region’s worst recession since World War II. As a result, the commission forecasts that euro-area debt will rise to 77.7 percent this year from 69.3 percent, and that it would advance to 83.8 percent in 2010.
Debt sustainability will continue to be monitored country- by-country, Kockerbeck said. Moody’s downgraded Ireland’s top credit rating in July, cutting it one step to Aa1.
While a temporary debt expansion should be expected, countries need to get their public finances under control soon because of the region’s ageing population, Kockerbeck said.
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