Moody says U.S. needs to find the most deficit cuts (Reuters)

NEW YORK)--Moody's rating agency repeated a warning Monday that could downgrade the United States before 2013 if fiscal or economic Outlook weakens significantly, but said that he saw the potential for a new debt agreement in Washington to cut the budget deficit before then.

With the markets of the United States yet to open after rival Standard & Poor stripped of its AAA rating late on Friday, United States, Moody said in a statement its decision to assert that the AAA rating on 2 August was on condition that further cuts.

"For the Aaa rating to remain in place, would look for further measures that would bring the ratio of federal debt to GDP, for example, reaching not far above the projected 2012 by almost 75% by the middle of the Decade and then falling in the long run," Moody's analyst Steven Hess wrote in a report.

"The agreement last week implies that come to an agreement that would meet this criterion by 2013 first will be challenging, given the political polarization, but not necessarily impossible."

Questions about whether U.S. lawmakers will be able to agree on further budget savings next year are located in the Centre of a disagreement between two rating agencies.

While S & P downgraded in the United States to AA-plus debt after deal fell last week short of his expectations, Moody is willing to give the Government more time to tackle its debt problems.

Moody's said that the United States "continues to exhibit characteristics consistent with an Aaa rating" despite further deterioration expected in government debt metrics in the coming years.

"Over time, this status could be threatened if further measures are not taken to address the long-term fiscal situation, but it is too early to conclude that those measures will not be forthcoming," said Hess.

(Edited by Patrick Graham)

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