Dagong, the Chinese rating agency, has cut the UK's credit rating blaming sluggish growth.
For more than two years the UK's economy was been stuck at the 1.3%-1.5% range hurting government finances.
"The downgrade from AA- to A+ puts Britain on a par with Chile and heavily-indebted Belgium, and the US, which Dagong downgraded in November."
In contrast, the big three Western rating agencies all still award the UK - and the US - the top AAA rating.
Kepping a negative outlook on the UK's rating, the Dagong suggesting that more downgrades may be yet to come.
Western economist embarrassed by the news rebuff the Chinese "Obviously this is not one of the main rating agencies that markets pay close attention to," said Standard Chartered, the lead European Economic Research firm. Adding that Dagong "sees relatively low growth and high inflation."
Dagong points out that the issue remains that the budget deficit will overshoot the governments 7.9-9% target. Along with high inflation, governments in the Eurozone will need to raise rates to deal with inflation, thus slowing the economy further.
In contrast, Western countries rate the People's Republic three notches lower than their own economies. The Dagong is leading the rate cutting trend with Western agencies threatened to review the ratings of both the US and the UK. Still none have taken action.
With notes from BBC World News
