Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s lowers rating of Brussels Region

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) lowered the rating of the Brussels Region from AA- to A+ on Friday. A rating is a score that reflects creditworthiness. The reduction may result in Brussels having to pay more interest when it borrows money.

According to S&P, the relegation from double A to single A means that Brussels now has a ‘strong’ instead of a ‘very strong’ capacity to meet its financial obligations.

Brussels’ creditworthiness is declining because the capital region’s budget deficit will be higher than expected in the coming years and the debt ratio will rise further.

The credit rating agency notes that the Brussels budget excluding strategic investments will not be balanced until 2026, two years later than the target published by the government in 2023. As a result, the budget deficit including investments will remain high in the coming years and the debt ratio will rise further.

“The budget is a collective responsibility of all ministers,” says Sven Gatz (Open VLD), the Brussels Minister of Finance and Budget. ‘Hopefully the seriousness of the situation will dawn on the entire government.’

The minister expects that the consequences of the rating downgrade will be limited in the short term. But he warns that the task will be very difficult in the medium term. ‘Additional savings will be necessary, strategic investments must be phased out more quickly and new income is required.’