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Moody’s Downgrades US Credit Outlook to ‘Negative

Biden is trying to sell ‘Bidenomics’, but Americans can’t afford the President’s agenda, she said, adding that leading financial institutions have noticed the same too…reports Asian Lite News

The US national debt exploded to $33 trillion in September, with the budget deficit doubling to $2 billion. And the debt is rising at a faster clip even as the House struggled with the speakership and the bickering over spending cuts between Democrats and Republicans continued unabated.

The national debt surpassed $33 trillion in September, and it’s rising at an ever faster clip. In the last fiscal year, the deficit doubled to about $2 trillion, USA TODAY reported.

“We’re in trouble, despite what the President keeps touting about ‘Bidenomics’,” financial writer Ingrid Jacques wrote in USA TODAY.

Biden is trying to sell ‘Bidenomics’, but Americans can’t afford the President’s agenda, she said, adding that leading financial institutions have noticed the same too.

Last weekend, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded its US credit rating outlook to “negative” from “stable”, given the high deficits and the increased costs of managing the debt, media reports said.

This follows an actual credit rating downgrade from Fitch Ratings earlier this year.

The GOP needs to think big or go home. The budget bickering is nothing new and the Congress has been dysfunctional for decades, said Maya MacGuineas, President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

“Neither party wants to take responsibility for our unsustainable debt – or make the tough decisions necessary to make things better – so they keep piling on the bad decisions,” she said.

“The budget process is absolutely broken,” MacGuineas said.

Rather than wasting time with infighting, Republicans should make clear the dangers of the skyrocketing debt, she said.

Primarily, the President and the Congress should help the formation of a bipartisan fiscal commission, which as per experts and legislators is the best solution for making a dent in spending. The idea is that it would take extreme partisanship out of making necessary budget cuts and offer political cover for lawmakers to sign on.

Senators Mitt Romney and Senator Joe Manchin introduced the Fiscal Stability Act, which would create the fiscal commission. (Neither Romney nor Manchin is seeking re-election, and they might be eyeing a third-party presidential run)

If Republicans are serious about reining in the debt, what they should focus on is winning more seats in Congress – and winning back the White House, the commentator said.

The GOP is playing to lose

2024 should be a cakewalk for Republicans, but they’re determined to give failing Dems a win, the financial writer wrote.

It’s the best Speaker Johnson could do, under the circumstances as the GOP is a divided house and consider the fact he’s working with a Democratic-controlled Senate and White House.

His “laddered” approach extends the funding deadlines to two different dates – one in January and one in February. It keeps funding at current levels (which should make Democrats happy) and averts the threat of a government shutdown ahead of the holidays. But those deadlines will come quickly after the first of the year. Then what?

Republicans – and Democrats – must wake up to reality. Many Republicans had demanded that additional spending cuts be tied to these annual spending bills.

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Categories
Business India News

Moody’s ups India’s growth projections

Moody’s has projected India’s growth at 5.5 per cent in 2023 and 6.5 per cent for 2024…reports Asian Lite News

Global credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday raised India’s economic growth projections as well as several economies like the US, Russia, Euro area, China and others.

In all cases, strong data in the second half of 2022 created large carry-over effects for 2023, Moody’s said.

It has projected India’s growth at 5.5 per cent in 2023 and 6.5 per cent for 2024.

In the case of inflation rate, Moody’s has predicted 6.1 per cent for 2023 and 5.5 per cent for 2024 for India.

According to the credit rating agency, the primary drivers of economic growth in 2023 and 2024 will be the Central banks’ decisions regarding how much to raise interest rates, for how long, and when to begin to lower them.

Moody’s said the Central banks, having embarked on the most aggressive monetary policy tightening in decades, are now at a precarious juncture, faced with the question: Is the magnitude of rate hikes undertaken thus far adequate to quell inflation?

While there is a sense that the end to tightening is near, it is unclear how many more rate increases would be appropriate and for how long interest rates will remain restrictive. Central banks’ decisions will evolve according to wage and inflation dynamics.

The focus on inflation by the emerging markets, even as countries were still recovering from COVID-19, prevented second-round inflationary dynamics from taking hold, Moody’s said.

Most of the central banks in the emerging markets are close to moving to an extended pause in rate hikes, with the focus gradually shifting to supporting growth with inflationary pressures appearing to dissipate.

“Rate cuts could follow soon after the end of the Fed’s (US Federal Reserve) tightening cycle, although we expect emerging market central banks to stay vigilant about inflation resurgence risks, which could shift policy direction in the US,” Moody’s said.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy committee voted in February to lift the repo rate at a slower pace, by 25 bps to 6.5 per cent, maintaining its policy stance as “focused on withdrawal of liquidity.”

Moody’s expects the global growth to continue to slow in 2023, with increasing drag from cumulative monetary policy tightening on economic activity and employment in most major economies.

“We forecast G-20 global economic growth will downshift to 2.0 per cent in 2023 from 2.7 per cent in 2022, and then to improve to 2.4 per cent in 2024,” Moody’s said.

According to the credit rating agency, possible surge in oil prices with increased demand from China and if Russia were to follow through with a five per cent cut to its supply in March, as it has indicated, oil markets could stay tight and hinder disinflation.

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