And he’s stupid enough to listen:
S&P Global Ratings said today that although the effects of the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak will stymie economic growth in Australia (AAA/Stable/A-1+), they are unlikely to negatively affect the sovereign rating.
The outbreak comes soon after several major natural disasters in Australia, including bushfires and floods, the combined effect of which could weaken some fiscal metrics. However, we still expect the general government budget, which includes the consolidated Commonwealth and subnational governments, to remain a key credit strength. This expectation underpins our ‘AAA’ ratings on Australia and is key to the stable outlook.