By Davide Barbuscia
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Fitch made its decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating due to fiscal concerns and a deterioration in U.S governance as well as polarization which was reflected in part by the Jan. 6 insurrection, Richard Francis, a senior director at Fitch Ratings, told Reuters on Wednesday.
In a move that took investors by surprise, Fitch downgraded the United States to AA+ from AAA on Tuesday, citing fiscal deterioration over the next three years and repeated down-to-the-wire debt ceiling negotiations that threaten the government’s ability to pay its bills.
The agency based its decision in part due to a perceived deterioration in U.S. governance, which it said gave less confidence in the government’s ability to address fiscal and debt issues, Francis said.
That deterioration, as well as increased polarization in the country’s political climate, was reflected in the Jan. 6 insurrection, which the agency highlighted in discussions with the Treasury. Fitch held meetings with Treasury ahead of the downgrade.
“It was something that we highlighted because it just is a reflection of the deterioration in governance, it’s one of many,” he said.
“You have the debt ceiling, you have Jan. 6. Clearly, if you look at polarization with both parties … the Democrats have gone further left and Republicans further right, so the middle is kind of falling apart basically,” Francis said.
The move made Fitch the second major rating agency after Standard & Poor’s to strip the United States of its triple-A rating.
Fitch’s call drew criticism from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who called it “arbitrary and based on outdated data.”
(Reporting by Davide Barbuscia; Editing by Megan Davies, Ira Iosebashvili and Andrea Ricci)
