U.S. political polarization means Fitch debt downgrade is here to stay, economist says
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Fitch Ratings in New York, United States. Cem Ozdel | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
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"The ratings are basically a slow-moving signal," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Thursday. "I think it does not take a grand sovereign and analytics genius to understand that the fiscal profile of the U.S. is much worse than it has been, the governance in charge of public debt is much worse than it has been, and it's frankly not comparable to any of the other AAAs out there." Hentov was part of the Standard & Poor's team that famously downgraded the U.S. government's credit rating in 2011, citing political polarization after a prolonged and fraught squabble in Washington over raising the debt ceiling. In May of this year, another standoff between the White House and opposition Republicans over raising the U.S. debt limit once again pushed the world's largest economy to the brink of defaulting on its bills, before President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy struck a last-minute deal. Asked if the U.S. was likely to regain its "risk-free" AAA rating from Fitch anytime soon, Hentov responded with a flat "no."
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Source: CNBC
