Mr Shaeuble suggested the recent downgrade of Italy's credit rating by Standard and Poor's may encourage it to speed up its own austerity measures to reassure markets.
On Tuesday, credit rating agency Standard and Poor's said it had downgraded Tunisia's rating, citing "a risk that the political situation could deteriorate further amid a worsening fiscal, external and economic outlook".
Rating company Standard and Poor's raised the country's long-term sovereign credit rating from "stable" to "positive" last week, citing optimism about the government's ability to carry out structural changes.
These will turn into losses if the stockmarket falls another 20%, reckons Standard and Poor's, a credit-rating agency.
The chancellor's speech comes as Standard and Poor's said it would hold the UK's credit rating at the highest possible level in light of its "wealthy and diversified economy" and said the outlook remained "stable".
The standing of the fund relies on the credit of the countries that back it, including France, which is threatened with a two-notch downgrade to its AAA credit rating by Standard and Poor's.
The comments from senior French figures followed a recent warning from US credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's that France could lose its triple-A credit rating over the eurozone crisis.
The coalition has long banked the credibility of its deficit reduction programme on the verdict of the global credit rating agencies, Moody's, Standard and Poor's and Fitch.
The OECD and IMF have both warned of the need for a credible plan to bring the budget into balance, and ratings agency Standard and Poor's has said it is putting Britain's AAA credit rating on review until such a plan emerges.
Shares in Moody's, the ratings agency, and McGraw-Hill, which owns rival agency Standard and Poor's, have both tumbled since February, as investors have grown less attracted by the business of rating securities based on subprime mortgages.
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