UK Government Tax Cuts Are Credit Negative, Moody's Says
September 28 2022 - 5:44AM
Dow Jones News
By Xavier Fontdegloria
The series of large tax cuts and increased spending outlined by
the U.K. government is fueling a confidence shock which could
weaken debt affordability and the country's credit profile,
according to global ratings agency Moody's.
The tax cuts are credit negative and will lead to structurally
greater deficit, a weaker growth outlook and acute public spending
pressure, the agency said in a report published Tuesday.
"A sustained confidence shock arising from market concerns
around the credibility of the government's fiscal strategy that
resulted in structurally higher funding costs could also more
permanently weaken the U.K.'s debt affordability," Moody's
said.
U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng sparked a
financial markets selloff by announcing the biggest tax cuts in a
generation, at a cost of around 45 billion pounds ($48.3 billion) a
year, in addition to new spending to freeze the rise in energy
bills for households and businesses that is expected to cost GBP60
billion.
Increased borrowing, together with weakening economic growth,
will push already elevated government debt on an upward trajectory
in the coming years, Moody's said.
"The measures... reflect the weakening predictability of fiscal
policymaking that we have highlighted in recent years. Moreover,
uncertainty around the government's continuing compliance with its
often revised fiscal rules weaken our assessment of policymakers'
forward-planning ability and their willingness or ability to
deliver on the targets they set," the agency said.
In the context of a sharp depreciation of the British pound and
the spike in government bond yields, Moody's said maintaining
foreign-investor confidence may become increasingly important.
"A sustained confidence shock, accompanied by concerns around
the government's commitment to fiscal prudence and/or the central
bank's ability to contain inflation, could more permanently weaken
debt affordability and the U.K.'s credit profile," it said.
Write to Xavier Fontdegloria at xavier.fontdegloria@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 28, 2022 05:29 ET (09:29 GMT)
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