A round-up of public finance news stories from the US and Canada you might have missed this week (May 20-24).

Flaherty says he's worried by global risks from loose policies

Canadian finance minister Jim Flaherty has said the loosening of fiscal and monetary policies in some countries may be increasing risks to the global economy (Bloomberg Businessweek).

US House panel approves spending cuts and assumes more to come

The Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives made clear this week that automatic spending cuts will be a recurring nightmare for Washington as it passed a measure to sharply reduce funding for government agencies and programmes next year (Reuters).

Canadian PM's aide resigns over expenses

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's top aide has resigned over his role in a growing expenses scandal (BBC).

IMF: US is cutting budget deficits too quickly

The International Monetary Fund has said the United States is getting carried away with a government austerity drive, offering some of the institution's bluntest criticism yet of Washington's rush to cut its budget deficit (Fox Business).
US faces downgrade in 2013 without budget, warns Moody's

US policy makers must address debt loads projected to rise later this decade to avoid a 2013 downgrade, even as the latest budget projections are ‘credit positive’, according to Moody’s Investors Service (Bloomberg).