B.C.\u2019s credit rating downgrade blamed on \u2018deterioration\u2019 of fiscal management<\/p>\n
Published 3:44 pm Thursday, March 19, 2026<\/p>\n
Moody\u2019s credit rating agency has downgraded B.C. a notch, blaming \u201centrenched deficits\u201d and a \u201cdeterioration in long-term fiscal management.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Thursday (March 19) decision is the agency\u2019s second downgrade for the province in two years, lowering B.C. to Aa2, or two notches below the top Aaa status. These credit rating decisions signal to investors that the province is a riskier place to lend money to, which, in turn, may cause B.C.\u2019s borrowing costs to rise.<\/p>\n
An Aa2 rating is still within the category of \u201chigh quality\u201d and \u201csubject to very low credit risk.\u201d But Moody\u2019s says its Baseline Credit Assessment for the province is actually a notch lower at A1 and is only boosted a level because the overall rating takes into account presumed backing from the federal government, which is Aaa stable, the highest rating possible. <\/p>\n
The Finance Ministry defended the province\u2019s fiscal position, pointing out that B.C. remains one of the top-rated Canadian provinces. Finance Minister Brenda Bailey says the province is continuing to work toward positioning itself as an \u201ceconomic engine\u201d of Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is challenging times for everyone across Canada, and we\u2019re taking disciplined steps to ensure B.C.\u2019s fiscal sustainability for the long term, while protecting important services people rely on, and diversifying our trading relationships,\u201d Bailey said in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n
Moody\u2019s dissects the outlook for B.C. in its ratings decision, breaking down the latest budget, which includes deficits of $13.3 billion this year, $12.2 billion the next and $11.4 billion the year after. Meanwhile, the agency says there is a \u201clack of an articulated timeline\u201d to return to balance, indicating that deficits could continue beyond the three-year fiscal plan.<\/p>\n
And debt is expected to soar, sharply increasing the burden of borrowing costs on the province\u2019s books. Moody\u2019s projects provincial debt to increase to $178.5 billion by the end of this fiscal year and to $230 billion by the end of 2028\/29.<\/p>\n
This has shifted B.C. from having one of the lowest debt burdens among regional peers to having one of the highest, according to Moody\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Despite this, the province continues to borrow to finance capital projects, planning to spend $52.9 billion on provincial and Crown corporation projects over the next three years.<\/p>\n
One bright spot is that Moody\u2019s says British Columbia has a more diversified trade portfolio than many other provinces, which means a reduced reliance on trade with the United States and, consequently, a better ability to weather trade uncertainty caused by U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
There is a caveat, though, that several key exports, such as natural gas, electricity and lumber, are all heavily reliant on trade with the U.S.<\/p>\n
Premier David Eby, speaking to reporters in Surrey on Thursday, said the choice the government made was to keep spending to boost the economy and deliver services through an \u201cincredibly challenging year\u201d of trade pressure and increasing health-care costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made a very clear choice,\u201d Eby said. \u201cWe\u2019re prioritizing British Columbians. We\u2019re prioritizing growing the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interim B.C. Conservative Leader Trevor Halford says the NDP government has increased spending but is still failing to provide better services.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s critical that British Columbians ask the NDP, \u2018How is it that they are spending more and that we have the largest deficit in the history of our province, yet our level of service from this province is at an all-time low?\u2019\u201d Halford said.<\/p>\n
He says it is clear the government has \u201cmaxed out the provincial credit card\u201d and allowed ministries to become overloaded with bureaucracy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis NDP government has completely bloated itself to a point where it\u2019s unrecognizable,\u201d Halford said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"B.C.\u2019s credit rating downgrade blamed on \u2018deterioration\u2019 of fiscal management Published 3:44 pm Thursday, March 19, 2026 Moody\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":{"0":"post-549004","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-surrey","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-surrey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}