American predicts cut in UK rating

He also said Standard & Poor’s acted too slowly in stripping the United States of its AAA rating on Friday; he remained bullish on commodities as investors turn to real assets amid fears of further quantitative easing by the US and European central banks.

“The idea that the US is downgraded and the UK is not is lunacy. There are many countries, Belgium, Spain, lots of countries in Europe, that should be downgraded just as the US has been downgraded,” Mr Rogers said.

Mr Rogers, who co-founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros in the 1970s, is a well-known investor and public speaker known for his bullish views on commodities and China. He now lives in Singapore.

Mr Rogers said he has long positions on agriculture, gold and other commodities and is short on emerging market equities, government bonds and large US financial institutions.

Despite recent falls in commodity prices and US Treasury yields, he said his positions remained healthy as the losses were offset by gains on his short positions.

Mr Rogers predicted Western governments would embark on a new round of quantitative easing to help spur their economies, as politicians were not prepared to go through bankruptcy.

“It’ll cause a big rally in raw materials and commodities because more and more people will realise they are printing money, they are debasing the currency.”