Belgium’s French Community, Wallonia and Flanders have all had their ratings downgraded by Moody’s Investors Service, the agency announced on Friday evening.
The rating of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation has dropped from A3 to A1, with a negative outlook.
Flanders has kept its Aa2 rating, but its long-term outlook has shifted from positive to negative.
Similarly, Wallonia has maintained its A2 rating, while its outlook has gone from stable to negative.
Moody attributed the changes to the uncertainty linked to the novel Coronavirus crisis.
The changes reflect “the significant negative pressures resulting from the coronavirus pandemic and the likely permanent impacts the crisis will have on regions' and communities' deficits and debt trajectories" said Matthieu Collette, Vice President and Senior Analyst at Moody's.
The Brussels Times
