Moody's cuts Japan's debt rating on deficit concerns

Moody's Credit Rating Agency has cut Japans government debt today to Aa2 from Aa3, due to the size of the debt held by the Japanese Government and the size of its national deficit. The financial crisis of 2008 and the earthquake and tsunami of 2009 has hurt the country's finances, while the country has been in a recession for the last three quarters. Japan, the worlds third largest economy, is having to deal with multiple challenges at the moment, particularly the fact that its political environment is somewhat unstable as Japan has seen five prime ministers in the last five years and is experiencing power shortages due to problems in the electrical grid caused by the earthquake. Japan's current prime minister is expected to resign in the next few days and his possible replacements do not appear to be willing to deal with the country's fiscal problems seriously.