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VICTORIA – Dominion Bond
Rating Service and Moody’s Investors Service have both issued encouraging
commentaries regarding British Columbia’s 2009 budget, Finance Minister Colin
Hansen announced today.
The
Dominion Bond Rating Service says prudent financial management by the
provincial government in recent years has left B.C. in good shape to weather
the world economic crisis.
Moody’s
commentary noted they believe that British Columbia,
with its recent track record of outperforming budget targets, has the
discipline necessary to ensure that deficits arising from the economic downturn
remain cyclical and do not become structural.
Moody’s
and Standard & Poor’s give the highest-possible rating to B.C. and Alberta
at AAA. DBRS rates B.C. AA high, second in provincial ranking only to Alberta,
which is rated AAA. The Government of Canada is rated AAA by all three rating
agencies.
“We’re
pleased to receive such favourable commentaries,” said Hansen. “They reinforce
what we heard from the agencies when they confirmed B.C.’s high credit ratings
last year – that our prudent fiscal management is successful both when times
are good and, importantly, when they’re not so good.”
Several
ratings agencies regularly examine the financial health of governments to
determine risk associated with the issuance of government bonds. Since November
of 2004, the Province has received six credit
rating upgrades. Most recently, Dominion Bond Rating Service upgraded British
Columbia’s credit rating to AA (high) in May 2007, Standard and Poor’s upgraded
B.C. to AAA in May 2007, while Moody’s Investors Service upgraded B.C. to Aaa
in October 2006.
“Our
credit ratings tell potential investors that British Columbia is still a great
place to invest,” said Hansen. “Even though we are going through a very
challenging time in terms of the world’s financial crisis, British Columbia is
going to weather this better than just about any other jurisdiction – a fact
the rating agencies acknowledge in their reports.”
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Note: The online version of this news release was
updated on March 31, 2009 to correct an error.
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contact: |
Communications Director Ministry of Finance 250 356-2821 |
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