"John Key has been forced to back-pedal over a claim he made to Parliament that international credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's said a further credit downgrade was likely if Labour became government.
It turns out Standard & Poor's never actually said that at all, with Mr Key admitting it was just an inference taken by one of his friends.
The Prime Minister has been on the defensive big-time when it comes to the credit ratings downgrade. That's included going on the offensive, telling Parliament Standard & Poor's made out a further downgrade would be "much more likely" under a Labour government.
"They did go on to say though if there was a change of Government, that downgrade would be much more likely," he said last week.
The big problem for Mr Key is the agency says it said no such thing."
5 comments:
Having attended these types of functions in the past I believe that S&P reps probably did say that, under Chatham House rules. Key's correspondent has broken those rules so S&P have no option but to deny any comments made in the meeting.
There is a ring of truth in the words when you consider them. Liabour led the country through the best economic times of a generation and with their policy settings still managed to take the country into recession 9 months ahead of the rest of the world. What is surprising is that we haven't been downgraded further considering National haven't really changed those settings.
btw if you understand the ratings scale the 'downgrade' is only a minor change.
Paranormal
Ring of truth, paranormal?
I think you are deluding yourself.
'Probably did say those things', you postulate , but then the ratings agency went on to publicly deny saying them, putting the Prime Minister in a position of being a liar or lacked discretion and finesse or having faith in a source that lied or lacked discretion?
Doesn't stack up for me, paranormal.
Your 'reassurance' that the downgrade is only a 'minor change' doesn't wash, para, given the over-heated claims made by Key and English earlier in the piece, about how dreadful such a downgrade would be and how cleverly they were going to avoid it, by their skilled financial mangement - hmmmmmm.
Oh, and there were two downgrades, remember.
Robert - have a look at the ratings scale and what S&P themselves say about the scale.
"The Ratings from “AA” to “B” may be modified by the addition of a “+” or “-“ to show relative standing within the major rating categories"
Fitch have also moved their rating of NZ from AA+ to AA.
A real downgrade is if we were moved from AA to A. As I said I am surprised we are still as highly rated with the unsustainable tax & spend from Liabour continuing under National.
You are welcome to believe what you want to believe. Just be careful your KDS doesn't cloud your judgment. I'm no apologist for Key, however I think in this instance he hasn't lied, rather he has unwisely repeated comments that should never have been passed on in the first place.
Paranormal
Very gracious of you, paranormal, to say that Key has been unwise. His actions initially then, were foolish and shameful, using that kind of 'information' at that level, for his own gain, then worse, to dodge questions and refuse to come clean when he was clearly caught out. What an embarrassment for all of us. He's supposedly a steely-eyed gambler, but his demeanour reveals him too easily. Read around the blogs a bit and see what others see.
John Key said it he should own it and checked out his sources a bit better before he opened his mouth. I do not believe S&P would ever risk making such a comment and the official got a little bit carried away who claimed that. However that does not excuse John for saying that without checking it credibility….
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