The agency said the budget repays emergency federal borrowing the state did in the depths of COVID last year and will keep the state’s bill backlog “in check” without dipping too far into the $8 billion in federal funds coming to Illinois from the American Rescue Plan. Moody’s said Tuesday it upgraded Illinois’ bond status due to “material improvement in the state’s finances,” specifically the $42 billion budget Democrats pushed through the legislature last month. The last time Fitch upgraded Illinois’ credit rating was 2000, and the last time S&P gave the state a ratings boost was 1997. Fitch last week moved Illinois’ credit outlook from “negative”to “positive.” and Standard & Poor’s - are not always in lockstep when it comes to rating states’ creditworthiness Moody’s and S&P, for example, downgraded Illinois to one notch above junk status on their respective scales on June 1, 2017, after the General Assembly adjourned their regular spring session for a third year in a row without passing a budget.įitch, however, didn’t make that same calculation until last April in the first several weeks after COVID-19 hit Illinois. The big three credit rating agencies - which also include Fitch Ratings Inc. Before then, the last time Moody’s gave Illinois an upgrade was 1998 - 23 years ago. Rod Blagojevich’s first few months in office in 2003. Moody’s has consistently downgraded Illinois’ bond rating since ex-Gov. Illinois’ general obligation bonds are the main measure of creditworthiness for the state, but Illinois sells other types of bonds, too, also rated by Moody’s and others. Illinois periodically sells bonds to pay for projects or other costs, and with the lowest bond rating of any state, is subject to higher interest rates when the state goes to the bond market. Bruce Rauner.īond ratings indicate how likely an entity - from a local government to a state to a company - is to pay off its debts to creditors. “Despite all the challenges of the last year, after eight credit downgrades our state suffered under my predecessor, I say with full certainty Illinois’ fiscal condition is heading in the right direction for the first time in the 21st century,” Pritzker told reporters Tuesday afternoon, referring to downgrades from the big three New York credit ratings agencies during the state’s budget impasse under former Gov. JB Pritzker and other Democrats in charge of state government celebrated after Moody’s upgrade. Illinois still has the lowest credit rating of all states by far, but Gov. Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday announced it was lifting Illinois’ bond rating from one notch above junk status to two. On the heels of a pandemic-recession, a major credit ratings agency is upgrading Illinois’ creditworthiness for the first time in two decades.
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