Rising debt levels were a response to the Global Financial Crisis in 2007-08, the huge costs incurred in the disaster of the Tōhoku Earthquake in 2011, and the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in late 2019. In August 2011, Moody's rating cut Japan's long-term sovereign debt rating by one notch to Aa3 from Aa2 in line with the size of the country's deficit and borrowing level. The large budget deficits and government debt since the 2008-09 global recession and the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 contributed to the ratings downgrade. In 2012 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Yearbook editorial stated that Japan's "debt rose above 200% of GDP partly as a consequence of the tragic earthquake and the related reconstruction efforts." Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan called the situation "urgent" due to the ballooning debt.