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The re­cent de­ci­sion by Moody’s rat­ings agency to shift T&T’s out­look from sta­ble to neg­a­tive has sparked po­lit­i­cal de­bate, but econ­o­mists say the move re­flects long-stand­ing eco­nom­ic pres­sures rather than any abrupt change in cir­cum­stances.

Econ­o­mist Dr Dave Seer­at­tan told Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day the down­grade fol­lowed a pre­dictable pat­tern in the glob­al rat­ings in­dus­try, where one agency’s move of­ten sig­nals sim­i­lar ac­tion by oth­ers.