Moody’s Downgrades Louisiana’s Credit Rating
BATON ROUGE, LA - Moody's Investors Service downgraded Louisiana's credit rating today in a move that will make it more expensive for the state to borrow money for construction projects, according to State Treasurer John Kennedy,
You can't spend more taxpayer money than you take in for seven years in a row and not expect a downgrade to your credit rating," said Treasurer Kennedy. "You also can't make public statements about suspending TOPS, ending LSU football, closing Nicholls State University and closing five prisons without scaring the daylights out of the credit rating agencies that grade our debt and the institutional investors that buy our debt. What we tell our children is true: Acts have consequences.
Moody's changed the state's credit outlook from stable to negative in February 2015. The last downgrade occurred in November and December 2005 after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Prior to 2005, the last Moody's downgrade occurred in 1987.