S&P downgrade a grave situation: Pranab Mukherjee
06 Aug 2011
Standard & Poor's downgrading of United States top-tier AAA credit rating by one notch has created a grave situation, the Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Saturday.
"We will have to analyse the downgrade. It will require some time. The situation is grave and there is no gain in making off-the-cuff remarks," Mukherjee told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event here.
In an unprecedented blow to the world's largest economy, Standard & Poor's has cut the United States top-tier AAA credit rating by one notch on concerns about the government's budget deficit and rising debt burden. (See: S&P lowers US rating from `AAA' to `AA+')
The AAA (triple A) rating was cut to AA+ (double AA plus) with a negative outlook, which the US treasury countered by stating that the rating agency's debt calculations were wrong by some $2 trillion. (See: Why S&P downgraded the US)
The Indian finance minister's statement came after Indian shares hit a 13-month intraday low on Friday on the back of US economic worries and the European debt crisis.
''This is nothing domestic. It is substantially due to external factors. Stock markets fell due to global factors like weak recovery in US and spread of debt burden in Euro-zone. Current volatility is temporary,'' he said on Friday.
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