Two weeks after Standard and Poor’s had downgraded the credit rating of the US economy from AAA to AA+ triggering  the downfall of the international stock markets, another credit rating agency Moody’s has downgraded the credit rating of the Japanese economy to Aa3 from Aa2.

Moody’s said in a statement in Tokyo that the downgrade by one level follows the country’s weak growth prospects, massive government debt and constant political uncertainty.

The rating downgrade comes ahead of an impending resignation by the Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Cabinet next week.  The resignation will set the stage for electing a new Prime Minister, the sixth in the last four years.

Deven Sharma to quit next month

After the downgrade of the US economy rating has become controversial and invited the wrath of the Obama Administration, the international credit rating agency’s president Mr Deven Sharma, an Indian by birth, has announced his resignation. Mr Sharma will quit next month, said the agency in a statement yesterday.

Deven Sharma will be succeeded by Citibank Chief Operating Officer Douglas Peterson on Sept. 12.