Illinois Credit Rating Downgraded Due to Pension Crisis

On Monday, Fitch Ratings downgraded the Illinois state government’s credit rating.

The decision to drop the state’s credit from an “A” to an “A-” came as state legislators failed to move forward on solving Illinois’ public-employee pension crisis, reports the Associated Press.

Prior to the Fitch downgrade, Illinois already had the nation’s lowest credit rating of any state. 

The downgrade may result in higher interest rates for borrowing funds.

The state’s five employee retirement systems presently have $97 billion worth of unfunded future liabilities.