LONDON, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Ratings agency Moody's cut Britain's domestic and foreign currency government bond ratings by one notch to Aa1 from the top notch triple A on late Friday.
The outlook on the ratings is now stable, the rating agency said on its website.
The downgrade was based on the expectation that Britain's sluggish economic growth would extend into the second half of this decade.
Moody's also doubted the capability of the British government to reduce debts before the targeted 2016, with its high and rising debt burden.
Britain's net sovereign debt was the equivalent of 68 percent of the country's annual economic output, or GDP, at the end of 2012.
Moody's, along with the other two ratings agencies Standard & Poor's and Fitch, last year put Britain's triple-A rating on "negative outlook," meaning they could downgrade the rating if Britain's situation deteriorates.
The British pound has depreciated sharply this week as rumors came that Britain could soon have a downgrade in its sovereign debt rating. It fell to 1.514 against the U.S. dollar following Moody's decision to cut Britain's credit rating.
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