NEW YORK CITY AWARDED AN "A" CATEGORY RATING
BY LONDON-BASED INTERNATIONAL BOND RATING AGENCY
NEW YORK CITY -- IBCA, the European credit rating agency, announced today that it has assigned an "A" long-term foreign currency rating to the City of New York, and A1 for short-term foreign issues. The rating, coming from a rating agency specializing in sovereign and sub-national municipal issuers around the world, is higher than those awarded to the City by the three major U.S. rating agencies. New York City currently has long-term bond ratings of A minus from Fitch Investor's Service, Baa1 from Moody's Investors Service and BBB plus from Standard and Poor's Corporation.
The Mayor expressed his appreciation for the recognition for the City that the new bond rating represented. "The rating reflects the City's currently robust finances," said Mayor Giuliani. "An 'A' rating from IBCA underscores the strength and vitality of New York City compared to the other largest and most important cities around the world."
Bond ratings from IBCA are given significant weight by investors active in the international capital markets. New York City, which for some time has been among the most important and largest issuers of municipal bonds in the United States, has recently become a major issuer of bonds in global capital markets. The City has issued bonds in the international capital markets three times over the past twelve months for the portion of its capital program that does not qualify for the lower tax-exempt interest rates available in the U.S. municipal bond market.
The IBCA report stated that Mayor Giuliani 'is widely judged to have been effective in his first term, particularly in combating crime and restraining public spending and taxation. Opinion polls consistently suggest he is much respected (if not particularly liked) by his fellow citizens and will win re-election later this year for another four years.' The report continued by saying, 'he appears to have won the battle of ideas as well in that his potential Democrat Party opponents do not look to overturn his innovations in social and financial policy. So policy consistently looks reasonably assured for some years to come."
Contact Us | FAQs | Privacy Statement | Site Map