The following are comments and actions by ratings companies on Japan:
MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE
-- On August 24 Moody's cut Japan's sovereign score to Aa3 from Aa2, its first downgrade since May 2002. It stated the outlook was stable.
-- Moody's had said in May it might downgrade Japan's sovereign debt ratings because of heightened concerns about faltering growth prospects and a weak policy response towards the country's mounting public debt.
-- In March, Moody's said the Japanese economy could shrink after the devastating earthquake as well as tsunami on March 11 but that the government had the fiscal and credit means to cope with a disaster.
-- In February, Moody's changed the outlook on Japan's Aa2 sovereign rating to negative from stable because of heightened concern that economic and fiscal policies would fall short of the tax reform required to achieve deficit reduction targets and curb a rise in debt.
-- Within May 2009, Moody's cut Japan's foreign currency rating to Aa2 from AAA however raised its domestic debt rating to Aa2 from Aa3. The outlook within both cases was stable.
-- Moody's said at the time it believed the domestic market would absorb the record degree of bond issuance that year to fund the government's economic stimulus plans. It said the rating reflected the risks of Japan's higher level of debt, which leaves the country's fiscal position vulnerable to shocks or imbalances that may cause a sharp rise in interest rates.
STANDARD & POOR'S
-- Within April, Standard and Poor's downgraded its outlook on Japan's sovereign debt score, warning that the huge cost of the devastating March 11 earthquake would hurt the country's already weak public finances unless there have been tax hikes.
-- S&P said in a statement that the March 11 earthquake as well as tsunami, and damage to Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy plant, meant Japan's fiscal deficit would exceed S&P's previous forecast of 3. 7% associated with gross domestic product to 2013.
-- S&P lowered its outlook for Japan's rating to negative from stable three months after it cut the rating for the very first time in nine years, by one notch to AA-minus, its fourth-highest rating.
-- S&P said inside a statement on its downgrade in January that the move reflected its look at that Japan's government debt ratio, or the ratio of debt to GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT, already among the highest for rated sovereign debt, would continue to increase.
-- The agency also cut the outlook for government debt to damaging from stable, citing reduced wiggle room on fiscal policy and voicing disappointment using the government's budget consolidation plans.
FITCH RATINGS
-- In May, Fitch cut it's outlook on Japan's sovereign debt, warning that the vast cost of the March earthquake and tsunami and also the still-unknown bill for the cleanup after the subsequent nuclear crisis would additional strain the country's already shaky public finances.
-- In March, Fitch had said it didn't view the economic impact of Japan's earthquake and tsunami as sufficiently serious to warrant negative rating action.
-- It said in March that Japan's fundamental strengths of the high-value-added and well-diversified economy, strong public institutions and sovereign financing flexibility supported the view that Japan could surmount the disaster with no dramatic negative impact on sovereign creditworthiness and ratings.
-- In September '09, shortly after the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) swept to power for the very first time, Fitch kept Japan's long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings from AA and AA minus, respectively, both with a stable outlook. It final cut the ratings in November 2001 and November 2002, respectively.