The U.S. government's top triple-A credit rating is stable despite the country's growing debt, Moody's Investors Service said Wednesday. A credit rating of “Aaa” is the highest possible, and means Moody's sees very little risk of the government defaulting on its debt. Last week, Standard & Poor's, another ratings agency, raised concerns that the United States could lose its “Aaa” rating after it warned Britain was at risk for a downgrade. Both the British government and the U.S. government have had their central banks inject billion of dollars into their economies by buying bank assets. The S&P warning sent the U.S. dollar and Treasury bond prices tumbling last week, because a downgrade would increase borrowing costs and hurt the U.S. government's economic stimulus efforts. Moody's on Wednesday did not rule out a future downgrade. Senior credit officer Steven Hess said that while the U.S. government's debt rating is stable, a reassessment of the economy and the government's debt could put “negative pressure on the rating in the future.” Hess added that budgetary risks related to the Social Security pension plan and the Medicare health plan for the elderly could also affect the U.S. rating. “The rating is not guaranteed forever,” Hess told the Associated Press. He said that if the U.S. government's debt ratios are still increasing significantly even after the recession is over, Moody's will need to re-examine its rating. Moody's has never rated the U.S. government anything below “Aaa” since it began rating the country's debt in 1917.
