S&P revises up British credit rating outlook to Stable on broadening recovery

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services Friday upgraded outlook on Britain's 'AAA' long-term sovereign credit rating from Negative to Stable, as its economic recovery basis is broadening.
"We view the United Kingdom as having exceptional monetary, labor, and product market flexibility, with a wealthy and diversified economy, and a predictable and stable political and institutional framework," said S&P in a press release.
And "amid further progress in consolidating public finances, the U.K.'s economic recovery is broadening," added the U.S.-based credit rating company.
S&P expects that British economy will expand by 2.9 percent this year and 2.5 percent in 2015, mainly driven by business investment and private consumption.
Earlier on the same day, Fitch Ratings affirmed Britain's long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at 'AA+', with Stable outlook. The company raises British growth expectation to three percent this year.
"The general government deficit for the 2013 calendar year was reported at 5.7 percent of GDP, considerably better than our forecast of 6.3 percent," said S&P.
S&P also forecasts that the ratio of British net general government debt to its GDP will peak at 85.1 percent in 2015, before it slightly decline to 84.6 percent and 83.1 percent in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
"The Stable outlook reflects our opinion that there is a less than one-in-three probability of a downgrade over the next two years," noted S&P.