Fitch Ratings has downgraded the long-term rating of the United States from AAA to AA+, according to a statement on Fitch’s website.
“The downgrade of the United States reflects the expected deterioration in its fiscal position over the next three years, the high and growing debt burden of the government as a whole and weakened governance … over the past two decades, as manifested in repeated debt limit waivers and last-minute decisions,” is the rationale behind the agency’s decision.
Also among the reasons for the downgrade Fitch calls the growing deficit of the U.S. government budget; the overall growth of government debt; rising interest rates and tightening of the Fed’s policy; the general tendency of the economy to move into recession. However, the rating outlook is stable, not negative.
The White House expressed “categorical” disagreement with Fitch’s decision.
“Downgrading the United States at a time when President [Joe] Biden has achieved the strongest recovery of any major economy in the world is contrary to reality,” Joe Biden’s spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
Bloomberg notes that the U.S. has had a AAA y Fitch rating since at least 1994. Another rating agency, Moody’s, continues to rate the U.S. as AAA, with S&P downgraded to AA+ back in 2011 after the debt ceiling crisis.
Fitch’s current downgrade was also preceded by such a crisis. For a long time the US authorities could not decide whether to raise or suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, which was reached back in January. As a result, it was suspended until the beginning of 2025. In June, the debt exceeded the $ 32 trillion mark for the first time.
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