Moody8217;s lifts US outlook to 8216;stable8217; from 8216;negative8217;

Citing the federal government's progress in putting debt on a more sustainable path.

Ratings firm Moody8217;s raised its outlook on the US to 8220;stable8221; from 8220;negative,8221; citing the federal government8217;s progress in putting debt on a more sustainable path.

Moody8217;s 8220;moved the outlook on the Aaa government bond rating of the United States back to stable,replacing the negative outlook that has been in place since August 2011,8221; the company said in a statement.

Moody8217;s also pointed out yesterday that the top triple-A rating was still warranted on US sovereign debt. Moody8217;s said the outlook upgrade reflected its view 8220;that the federal government8217;s debt trajectory is on track to meet the criteria laid out in August 2011 for a return to a stable outlook.8221;The improvement removed the downward pressure on the rating,it said.

8220;The US budget deficits have been declining and are expected to continue to decline over the next few years. 8220;Furthermore,the growth of the US economy,which,while

moderate,is currently progressing at a faster rate compared with several Aaa peers and has demonstrated a degree of resilience to major reductions in the growth of government spending,8221; the company said.

For those reasons,Moody8217;s said,the US government8217;s ratio of debt to gross domestic product GDP will fall more sharply through 2018 than the company had estimated when it downgraded the outlook nearly two years ago.But Moody8217;s warned that the government needs to step up its budget tightening to prevent the buildup of unhealthy debt pressures in the longer term.

8220;Despite the more favorable fiscal outlook over the next several years,without further fiscal consolidation efforts,government deficits are anticipated to increase once again over the longer term.8221;

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Such an outcome could once again weigh on the US triple-A rating but at this point appears unlikely,it said. Moody8217;s said the outlook upgrade came after the Congressional Budget Office CBO projected the budget deficit for the 2013 fiscal year that ends on September 30 would fall to 4.0 per cent of GDP from 7.0 per cent in 2012.

The steep decline was sharper than Moody8217;s had estimated in 2011,it said,and was being driven by sharp spending cuts,known as sequestration; tax increases; and a slowdown in federal health care spending.