After the passage of the second federal COVID-19 relief funding in late 2020, public finance experts discuss the outlook for further federal stimulus and state and local revenues and budgets as the rollout of new vaccines brings hope for an easing of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This special briefing features a panel of experts, including Shelby Kerns, executive director, National Association of State Budget Officers; Eric Kim, senior director and head of US State Ratings, Fitch Ratings; Vikram Rai, managing director and head of the Municipal Strategy Group, Citigroup; Mark Zandi, chief economist, Moody’s Analytics.

Notable Quotes:

“After the Great Recession, even as revenues began to grow again in 2011, it took until FY 2013 for state general fund revenues to surpass the 2008 levels without adjusting for inflation. States did not see a return to 2008 levels until 2018, in inflation adjusted terms” - Shelby Kerns

“Fitch’s credit outlook for state and local governments this year is stable relative to a very challenging 2020. Last year we downgraded four states ratings, Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois, and New Jersey, and we’ve got six ratings right now on a negative outlook, Alaska, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, New Jersey, and New York” - Eric Kim

“With respect to the economy, we’re off to a tough start. 2021 is starting much like 2020, the economy is struggling, and it not surprisingly goes back to the pandemic.” - Mark Zandi

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Special Briefing is published by the Volcker Alliance, as part of its Public Finance initiatives, and Penn IUR. The views expressed on this podcast are those of the panelists and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Volcker Alliance or Penn IUR.