Treasury advisers see no US downgrade imminent

A committee of private financial advisers to the US Treasury does not believe that the country's credit rating will be downgraded in the near future, the Treasury said Wednesday."None of the members" of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, which met Tuesday, "thought that a downgrade was imminent," the Treasury reported, as speculation grew that Standard & Poor's might cut the country's AAA rating for the first time in history because of its yawning fiscal deficit.A Treasury official who declined to be identified added that even if there was a sovereign downgrade, the committee's members did not think there would be much impact on demand for us debt, and some dismissed the ratings agencies as having low credibility.The committee, which helps the Treasury set its borrowing plans, is comprised of members of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.The meeting took place before two of the three large sovereign debt raters, Moody's and Fitch, reaffirmed the United States' top grade rating Tuesday afternoon following the passage into law of a new long-term plan to cut the country's deficit.The plan also raised the US debt ceiling, allowing the Treasury to increase borrowing and avoid a looming default on its debt and other obligations.All three agencies had warned that not increasing the debt ceiling by August 2 could force a downgrade.But S&P also said that if the US did not craft a "credible" plan to slash its deficits and debt over the long term, it would cut the country's rating anyway.S&P had suggested that a plan that would pare the deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years would be adequate to avoid a default.The plan signed into law by President Barack Obama on Tuesday fell well short of that number, offering $2.4 trillion in cuts over the period.S&P has yet to comment on the deficit plan.