Bulletin: Weaker Economic Forecast Won't Immediately Affect Australia 'AAA' Rating

MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) April 17, 2020--S&P Global Ratings today said its weaker economic forecasts will have no immediate effect on the Australia sovereign 'AAA' rating. We recently revised our outlook on the ratings to negative from stable (see "Australia Outlook Revised To Negative As COVID-19 Outbreak Weakens Fiscal Outcomes; 'AAA/A-1+' Ratings Affirmed," published April 8, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic, government responses, and resulting effect on the economy and financial markets continue to evolve rapidly. Although we now expect the economic downturn in Australia to be more severe than we previously forecast, we continue to believe the economic and fiscal shock will be temporary. The 'AAA' rating and negative outlook reflect our expectations that the Australian economy will move into

...April 16, 2020 MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) April 17, 2020--S&P Global Ratings today said its weaker economic forecasts will have no immediate effect on the Australia sovereign '###' rating. We recently revised our outlook on the ratings to negative from stable (see "Australia Outlook Revised To Negative As COVID-19 Outbreak Weakens Fiscal Outcomes; '###/A-1+' Ratings Affirmed," published April 8, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic, government responses, and resulting effect on the economy and financial markets continue to evolve rapidly. Although we now expect the economic downturn in Australia to be more severe than we previously forecast, we continue to believe the economic and fiscal shock will be temporary. The '###' rating and negative outlook reflect our expectations that the Australian economy will move into recession during 2020 before recovering, and that the general government's deficit will balloon toward 6% of GDP in fiscal 2020 and 10% in 2021. While we will revise our economic...

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