UPDATE 1-Moody's downgrades Canadian province of Alberta on rising debt

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TORONTO, April 25 (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service
stripped Alberta of its Aaa credit rating on Monday, becoming
the latest ratings agency to downgrade the Canadian province
after the oil price shock pushed its finances deep into the red.
Citing its worsening fiscal position and resulting rapid
rise in debt, Moody's downgraded the province's long-term rating
to Aa1 from Aaa and maintained a negative outlook.
The downgrade "reflects the province's growing and
unconstrained debt burden, extended timeframe back to balance,
weakened liquidity, and risks surrounding the success of the
province's medium-term fiscal plan," Moody's Assistant Vice
President Adam Hardi said in a statement.
Earlier this month, Dominion Bond Rating Service also
downgraded the province after the provincial government forecast
a budget deficit of C$10.4 billion ($8.21 billion) this fiscal
year.
Standard & Poor's stripped Alberta of its AAA credit rating
in December.
Alberta's left-leaning NDP government expects the
once-booming province to be C$57.6 billion in debt by 2019,
while Finance Minister Joe Ceci said Alberta could run deficits
until 2024. L2N17H2J1
Ceci described the latest downgrade as a "disappointment"
and reiterated the government's commitment to maintaining
funding for public services and infrastructure spending in a bid
to spur growth.
The province is home to Canada's vast oil sands and is the
No. 1 exporter of crude to the United States but the government
expects oil and gas revenues this year to be almost 90 percent
lower than 2014.
Earlier this month the Canadian Association of Petroleum
Producers said capital investment in the industry has dropped
C$50 billion in two years and more than 100,000 oil and gas
workers have been laid off.
($1 = 1.2673 Canadian dollars)