Canada has lost its AAA credit rating because of the state of the country’s finances during the COVID-19 pandemic..Fitch Ratings announced the cut from AAA to AA+ on Wednesday citing the fact Canada is expected to run a bigger government deficit and emerge from the recession with much higher public debt ratios..Canada’s parliamentary budget officer has estimated Canada’s debt at the end of the year could reach $1 trillion..“The higher deficit is largely driven by public spending to counteract a sharp fall in output as parts of the economy were shuttered to contain the spread of the coronavirus,” Fitch said in the report..The deficit is expected to be well north of $250 billion..“The question is what took so long. Canada’s excessively leveraged national balance sheet has looked a lot like China, Italy and Greece for quite a while,” David Rosenberg, founder of Rosenberg Research and Associates and former chief North American economist at Merrill Lynch & Co., told Bloomberg..“This won’t be the last ratings cut, I can assure you.” . POLL: Many Albertans say they will ignore Christmas COVID lockdown .Canada’s national government is on track post its largest deficit on record in the 2020-2021 fiscal year..“Canada continues to be in a stronger financial position than many other countries in the G-7 and G-20,” Finance Minister Bill Morneau said in a statement..“We will continue to be fiscally responsible while acting to protect our country and its economy.”.S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s still has Canada at AAA ratings..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.TWITTER: Twitter.com/nobby7694
