GIC: Major crisis if US loses AAA status

SINGAPORE: The world could face another major financial and economic crisis if the United States loses its AAA sovereign rating, a top official at Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC said yesterday.

Separately, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he did not expect US President Barack Obama to tackle the country's huge deficit until after presidential elections in 2012, in a sign of growing global unease about the US economy.