The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

Moody’s cuts China’s credit rating—first time since 1989:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/moodys-cuts-its-china-rating-citing-risks-from-rising-debt-1495590160

Moody’s Investors Service cut China’s sovereign credit rating for the first time in nearly three decades, citing expectations that the country’s financial strength will deteriorate in the coming years as debt keeps rising and the economy slows.

In a Wednesday statement, Moody’s said it downgraded China’s rating to A1 from Aa3, while changing its outlook to stable from negative… Moody’s now rates China’s credit alongside that of countries such as Japan, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

…The rise in debt, which started in earnest with a massive stimulus program during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, has increasingly weighed on the world’s second-largest economy. Accommodative monetary policy and robust state spending over many years have also fueled excess production capacity in industries such as glass and steel, which has diverted funding to “zombie” companies rather than to promising firms in the real economy.

…Another ratings firm, Fitch Ratings, downgraded China’s debt in 2013 to A+, a rating that is on a par with Moody’s after the downgrade. S&P rates China’s debt at AA-, equivalent to a notch higher.