Now India, several other nations face downgrade: S&P

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Monday cautioned that it could lower the sovereign ratings of countries like India, Japan and Malaysia, which 'are still to come out of the economic meltdown of 2008'.

"The implications for sovereign creditworthiness in the Asia-Pacific would likely be more negative than previously experienced and a larger number of negative rating actions would follow," S&P said in its report on Asia-Pacific Sovereigns.

"Fiscal capacities of Japan, India, Malaysia, Taiwan and New Zealand have shrunk relative to pre-2008 level," it said, adding that these countries continue to bear the scars of the downturn.

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The governments, it said, would be required to use their own revenue streams to support their economies and financial sector once again.

It further said that if a renewed slowdown comes, it would create a deeper and more prolonged impact.

At the time of the global financial crisis in 2008, several countries, including India, had rolled out stimulus packages facilitating monetary expansion and lower taxes to mitigate the impact of the slowdown.

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At that time, India had provided three fiscal stimulus packages totalling Rs 1.86 lakh crore (Rs 1.86 trillion), which helped the economy clock a growth of 8 per cent in 2009-10, as against 6.8 per cent in 2008-09.

Prior to the crisis, the Indian economy had been expanding at a growth rate of over 9 per cent over a three-year period.

Standard & Poor's had earlier on Monday said that its downgrade of the US would have an impact on the exports and liquidity positions of Asia-Pacific economies, but poses no immediate risk to their sovereign ratings.

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S&P said since the Asia-Pacific economies are dependent on exports to the US and Europe, some of the nations, like Thailand, Malaysia and Japan, are likely to "experience export-driven slowdown, either through weaker demand or lower export prices, or both."

The report further said that Asia-Pacific nations that have weaker forex reserves could face stress on account of tightening of the international liquidity position.

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"Those with financial systems reliant on offshore markets may face reduced liquidity and a heightening of refinancing risk in the near term. To varying degrees, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Korea and Indonesia may be affected," S&P said.

It also said that Asia-Pacific governments would need to use internal resources to support their own economies and financial sectors again.

"If a renewed slowdown comes, it would likely create a deeper and a more prolonged impact the last one," it added.