VIENNA, 7th June, 2026 (WAM) -- Morningstar DBRS has downgraded Austria's highest credit rating from AAA to AA (high), while maintaining a stable outlook, citing deteriorating debt metrics and persistently high budget deficits.
The move means Austria has lost its top credit rating with the last of the five major credit rating agencies used by the European Central Bank to assess collateral, bringing to an end a decades-long period during which the country ranked among Europe's highest-rated sovereign issuers.
In its report, Morningstar DBRS said Austria is running wider fiscal deficits than before the COVID-19 pandemic, largely due to persistently higher expenditure levels. It added that despite the government's fiscal consolidation efforts, the country's debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to remain on a slow upward trend.
Austria first lost its AAA credit rating in 2014.
The Austrian government aims to cut the deficit to below 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2028 in order to conform to European Union rules and exit its regime of fiscal scrutiny.
