The agency said the downgrade reflects the significant impact of the Corona pandemic on Italy's economy and its sovereign financial position.
The agency expected Italy's GDP to contract by 8% in 2020.
With this categorization, Fitch Italian bonds are only one degree away from falling into the category of high-risk debt or speculative investments.
The Italian Ministry of Finance was quick to comment on this reduction by saying in a statement that the foundations of Italy’s economy and public finances are solid, indicating that the rest of the credit rating agencies followed a more cautious approach.
Last Friday, Standard & Poor's kept its rating of Italy's creditworthiness unchanged, explaining its decision that Italy has a rich and diversified economy and its debt levels are lowest. In the G7.
The Italian government had decided several days ago to amend an amended budget bill in which it expected 8% of GDP to fall in the third largest economy in the euro area this year due to the consequences of the pandemic. .
According to the project itself, the Italian public deficit will jump to the level of 10.4% of GDP, compared to 2.2% that was expected before the epidemic and 1.6% recorded in 2019. < / p>
In turn, the Italian public debt will rise this year to 155.7%, compared to 135.2% in previous budget estimates and 134.8% recorded in 2019.
The International Monetary Fund expected that the next year the Italian economy will grow by 4.8%, after it contracted by 9.1% this year.
