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| - S&P announced Friday it has kept the United Kingdom's credit rating unchanged and given it a stable outlook, hailing steps taken to weather the economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic. The agency maintained the country's long-term credit at AA, the third best grade on the company's scale, which corresponds to an issuer of high quality. "The UK authorities have deployed a range of measures from their fiscal, monetary and regulatory toolkits to mitigate the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic," the credit rating agency said. "We anticipate that in 2020, the UK economy will contract by 6.5 percent and public finances will deteriorate, consolidating in subsequent years as the economy recovers," it said in a statement. "We are affirming our sovereign credit ratings at 'AA/A-1+'. The outlook is stable," it added. The agency warned nonetheless that the grade would face pressure if the economic recovery is weaker than anticipated, making it harder to re-establish public finances. That could happen if exports of goods and services lose access to European markets and if the pound sterling comes under pressure. Britain is in the process of negotiating a long-term trade agreement with the European Union following its exit from the EU earlier this year. On the other hand, the grade could improve if, as part of the negotiations with Brussels, key sectors like services retain access to European markets with penalising tariffs or non-tariff barriers, the agency said. jld/lc/bfm
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