Wannabe Tory Chancellor telling porkies live on TV
Here’s the wannabee Tory chancellor Phil Hammond telling lies on live TV last night (go to 14mins 50 sec in to listen):
“We need to send a clear signal to the markets. Two of the credit rating agencies have already warned us that the government’s triple A credit rating will be at risk if the next government does not show greater determination than this government has so far demonstrated.”
How is this a lie? See this, this morning from Bloomberg:
“The UK and Spain are unlikely to lose their top credit ratings even after being ‘severely hit’ by the global economic crisis, Moody’s Investor Service said.
“Germany and France, other Aaa-rated countries which had been more affected by the crisis than Moody’s expected, remain ‘resistant,’ Pierre Cailleteau, managing director of sovereign risk at the ratings company, said in a statement today. The U.S. doesn’t face any ‘downward rating pressure’ in the next few years even as its balance sheet expands, Moody’s said.
“The global economy is emerging from the worst recession since the 1930s, supporting governments’ decisions to increase debt levels to finance spending. Officials from the Group of 20 nations this month expressed caution on the world economic outlook and judged it premature to start unwinding record-low interest rates and about $2 trillion in fiscal stimulus.
“‘Almost all aaa-rated sovereigns have been hit more severely by the global downturn than we expected earlier this year,’ Moody’s said. ‘Nevertheless, all Aaa countries now have stable outlooks, indicating that we do not expect rating downgrades over the near term.’”
Well, it’s perfectly possible that Moody’s positive assessment is compatible with two other ratings agencies being more negative.
But to the best of my knowledge only S&P has suggested a negative outlook. The other of the ‘big three’ agencies is Fitch, and they seem to agree with Moody’s:
“[Brian Coulton from Fitch] said the UK benefits from strong demand for its bonds, and its reserve currency status, which means it has ‘exceptional financing flexibility’. And he points out UK debt was relatively low ahead of the crisis and is not likely to exceed debt of other large ‘AAA’ sovereigns – which are also experiencing large fiscal shocks.”
So, other than S&P, who if anyone does Hammond have in mind?
Tom
Thanks for that additional bit of research. I kind of knew I should look back at which agencies he might have been referring to, but I couldn’t be arsed as I’m pretty damn sure he’ll have had S&P and Moody’s in mind. Also, i wasn’t going to be on TV.
Chris at Libcon
Thank for the pinback link thingy. I think this conclusively proves that Though Cowards Flinch is much more influential than the Bickerstaffe Record, where I put the post up first, and justifies my move over here from there with the national level stuff. BR came higher up than TCF in the Iain Dale compo, but that’s because it was all bollox.
Anyway, here’s to ‘Hammond telling porkies’ going viral, as I believe new media people now say.