OREANDA-NEWS. After three months of rating activity under Fitch's revised criteria for U. S. state and local governments, the vast majority of actions have been affirmations, while upgrades outnumbered downgrades by almost three to one, according to a Fitch Ratings report.

"Fitch saw the majority of ratings - 83 percent - affirmed in the first phase of criteria implementation, as we anticipated when the revised criteria were launched," said Laura Porter, Managing Director and head of Fitch's U. S. state and local government ratings team.

"Even though the majority of ratings are unchanged, we are very pleased with how the revised criteria are allowing us to communicate our opinions more clearly and highlight the fundamental factors that underpin our rating conclusions while still relying on analytical judgment rather than a formula approach."

Ten credits were downgraded in total through July 31. Four downgrades were due to the revised criteria, while the remainder incorporated significant negative credit trends.

Twenty-eight credits were upgraded through July 31, with 11 due to the revised criteria's focused consideration of economic factors. Nine credits were upgraded due to underlying fundamentals and eight due to a combination of the two.

Separately, three general obligation (GO) credits were upgraded two notches above the Issuer Default Rating due to the revised criteria's position on reflecting enhanced recovery due to state law-granted statutory liens in the GO rating.