B.C.'s latest credit downgrade signals 'something wrong' with finances: economist

The B.C. legislature is framed within trees in Victoria, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

An economist says the latest downgrade for British Columbia’s credit rating will discourage companies from investing in the province.

Standard & Poor’s global ratings lowered its rating this month for B.C. to A from A-plus after Moody’s lowered its rating to double-A-one from double-A-two a few weeks after the provincial budget was released.

While B.C. has taken “some corrective fiscal measures” by cutting costs and raising revenues, S&P says that “sizable deficits will persist” as the provincial government lacks a clear plan to balance the budget that forecasts a deficit of $13.3 billion.

Jairo Yunis, director of policy at the Business Council of B.C., says this latest downgrade, the fifth by S&P since 2021, signals “something wrong” with provincial finances.

He says with every downgrade, government has to spend more money on interest payments, diverting resources away from infrastructure and services.

Yunis says what is most concerning about S&P’s analysis is B.C.’s lack of a plan and urgency to address the situation.

“When a province’s fiscal trajectory is deteriorating, and there is no credible plan to stabilize it, then that gets factored into decisions about where to invest, about where to put a new facility, about where to hire,” Yunis says.

B.C.’s Ministry of Finance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday, but Premier David Eby said last month when Moody’s downgraded its rating that his government made a “very clear choice” between making cuts to “meet a credit rating” and “prioritizing British Columbians.”

Eby has also repeatedly said that the province is expecting about $50 billion in final investment decisions around projects in energy, LNG and the mining sector.

Yunis acknowledged those projects, but says that the fiscal benefits of those projects won’t show up until the 2030s.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 6, 2026.

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press