Moody’s Reaffirms BC’s Triple AAA Credit Rating
Prince George, B.C. – Positive news on the economic front in B.C.
This as Moody’s Investors Service has reaffirmed BC’s AAA credit rating and upgraded the province’s outlook from negative to stable.
The agency gave B.C. high grades for its forecast of another balanced budget and says the rating reflects B.C.’s high debt affordability, strong fiscal management and fiscal flexibility.
“The stable outlook on the Province of British Columbia’s ratings reflects our opinion that the province has presented a credible plan of consistent balanced budgets with little risk that the debt burden will exceed current forecasts,” says Moody’s.
Predictably, Premier Christy Clark is pleased with today’s news.
“B.C. is a leader in controlling spending, attracting investment, and diversifying markets for our goods. Moody’s upgrading B.C.’s credit rating outlook to AAA stable – the highest possible – is further validation of the hard work British Columbians have done to build a growing, diverse economy.”
Comments
Moody’s Reaffirms BC’s Triple AAA Credit Rating – “strong fiscal management”!
Nice job Christy Clark & Team!
Nice work crusty.. We owe billions, highest child poverty rate in Canada, driving seniors poor, destroying our educational system, taking hundreds of millions from ICBC the increasing our dates, taking more money from bc hydro and driving our rates through the roof, dropped the ball on LNG..
Don’t you wish we could all owe million upon millions and still have top credit rating..only works for governments..what a load of bull
British Columbia’s debt reached a new record high $60.693 billion on March 31 and contractual obligations are nearing $100 billion.
That is according to the July 15-released Public Accounts for the 2013-2014 fiscal year.
The debt increased $4.877 billion during the year. The total includes $41.068 billion taxpayer-supported debt for government operations, education, health and transportation infrastructure and $19.625 billion self-supported debt from Crown corporations and agencies. The largest Crown corporation debt is $15.559 billion for BC Hydro.
By comparison, the accumulated provincial net debt was $45.154 billion as of March 31, 2011, just over two weeks after Christy Clark was sworn-in as premier. Clark earned derision from the NDP and BC Conservatives when she campaigned in a bus last year emblazoned with “Debt Free B.C.” to promote her vision of a liquefied natural gas industry. The Office of the Premier did trim its purchasing card spending, from $402,848.38 to $395,220.26 in the past year. It is substantially less than the $475,015.19 spent in 2011.
– See more at: http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2014/07/16/BC-debt-hits-new-record-high/#sthash.Mbq1oGxn.dpuf
I will give the BC liberals another AAA for more propaganda at it’s best.
So is the glass half full or half empty?
My take is that we have about $70 billion of BC taxpayer-supported debt,(about $17,000 for every man, woman and child in the province), but we also have a lot of assets to secure the debt. Hence the AAA credit rating.
Other comments:
– the budget is only balanced in the broadest definition of balanced, as we are deeper in debt every year.
– this province will realize its true economic potential when we sort out the aboriginal rights issues to everyone’s satisfaction. Not a good week on that front.
CL
More likely that PVal’s first comment nailed it. Don’t spend on anything except corporate support and subsidy and the banks (oh . . . another corporate entity) will finds ways to express their glee.
Tax payer supported debt.. I don’t want to support this debt.. I want to stop the liberals from driving us deeper in this supported debt. I don’t want us to pay more taxes to support this debt.. I hate that we keep picking at seniors income to the point of them no longer being able to afford to live.. Take a wander through a seniors home and ask what they think of how much they pay for everything thanks to the liberals?
Balanced budget means.. I have no debt as what I take in keeps me afloat.. But in politics it means.. I owe almost 100,000,000 but that’s good ain’t it..lol
Wasn’t it Moody’s that gave all the shoddy bundled subprime mortgages a AAA rating, contributing to the Global Financial Crises of the last decade?
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