Japan COVID-19 Emergency Pressures Tokyo, Aichi Prefecture, And Osaka City Budgets

TOKYO (S&P Global Ratings) April 8, 2020--S&P Global Ratings today said the worsening COVID-19 pandemic is likely to pressure the budgetary performance from fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2021 of the three Japanese local and regional governments (LRGs) we rate. These are Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG; A+/Positive/--), the Prefecture of Aichi (Aichi; A+/Positive/A-1), and the City of Osaka (Osaka; A+/Positive/A-1). The central government on April 7 declared a state of emergency in seven designated prefectures, including TMG and the Prefecture of Osaka, until May 6. Aichi is not subject to the declaration, which is aimed at curbing the COVID-19 pandemic and a collapse of the medical system in Japan. We view increasing downward pressure on our stand-alone credit profiles (SACPs) on

...April 8, 2020 TOKYO (S&P Global Ratings) April 8, 2020--S&P Global Ratings today said the worsening COVID-19 pandemic is likely to pressure the budgetary performance from fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2021 of the three Japanese local and regional governments (LRGs) we rate. These are Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG; A+/Positive/--), the Prefecture of Aichi (Aichi; A+/Positive/A-1), and the City of Osaka (Osaka; A+/Positive/A-1). The central government on April 7 declared a state of emergency in seven designated prefectures, including TMG and the Prefecture of Osaka, until May 6. Aichi is not subject to the declaration, which is aimed at curbing the COVID-19 pandemic and a collapse of the medical system in Japan. We view increasing downward pressure on our stand-alone credit profiles (SACPs) on the three LRGs as likely to occur due to a prolonged outbreak of COVID-19 infections. Compared with the approaches of other countries that have implemented lockdowns, we expect to see less restrictions...

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