City Of Portsmouth: Standard & Poor's Affirms Tenth Consecutive AAA Bond Rating For City Of Portsmouth In Advance Of Successful Refinanc ...

Portsmouth NH

22 October, 2021

11:11 AM

Description

Press release from the City of Portsmouth: October 21, 2021 In their summary, S&P noted, "The 'AAA' rating on the city's General Obligation (GO) bonds is underpinned by the city's strong management team that uses long-term financial planning to mitigate risks from one-time economic shocks such as those that occurred at the onset of the pandemic. We rate the city higher than the nation because we believe Portsmouth can maintain better credit characteristics than the nation in a stress scenario based on its predominantly locally derived revenue base," they continued. "We consider Portsmouth's economy very strong." The recent refinancing demonstrates one of the benefits of the current AAA rating. When the original bond was issued in 2011, the City had a AA+ rating. The AAA rating attracted a larger market for competitive bidding. Such long-term financial planning, in turn, is the foundation of S&P's rating. In the new report reaffirming the AAA rating S&P specifically cited the City's "very strong management, with strong financial policies and practices." This press release was produced by the City of Portsmouth. The views expressed here are the author's own.