Illinois, with already the lowest-among-states credit ratings, has taken a new hit this week, as Fitch Ratings downgraded the state.
"Fitch believes that the burden of large unfunded pension liabilities and growing annual pension expenses is unsustainable," the rating agency said in a statement.
Fitch cut the state's general obligation rating to A-minus with a negative outlook, affecting $27.5 billion of outstanding debt. Illinois.
"Deterioration in the state's financial position, as evidenced by excessive use of non-recurring revenues or additional payment deferrals would likely lead to a negative rating action," Fitch said.
The Illinois credit spread over MMD's benchmark triple-A scale for the municipal market remained at 140 basis points for the seventh-straight week. That spread is the second-widest after only Puerto Rico among major muni debt issuers---and many consider Puerto Rico to be in worse shape than Greece.
The Illinois government had 3 main pieces of legislation to pass bfore recess, (3 because that what the news told us), Government pension reform, casinos and gay marriage . Fail all round.
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