Fitch downgrades Japan on debt fears

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Japan's sovereign debt rating to A+ and has placed the country on a negative outlook owing to its rising public debt pile.

The agency has cut Japan’s long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings from AA and AA- to A+, with a negative outlook on both. The country ceiling has been downgraded from AAA to AA+. Andrew Colquhoun, head of Asia-Pacific sovereigns, said: “The downgrades reflect growing risks for Japan's sovereign credit profile as a result of high and rising public debt ratios. "The country's fiscal consolidation plan looks leisurely relative even to other fiscally-challenged high-income countries, and implementation is subject to political risk. “Japan's gross general governm...