“During challenging economic times like these, it’s reassuring to see that a prestigious credit rating firm like Moody’s sees the Island as a safe place to invest,” said Provincial Treasurer Wes Sheridan. “We maintain three credit ratings in the “A” category, which we see as strong endorsements for the direction our Government is taking.”

In its rating, Moody’s pointed to the Province’s overall strong governance and management characteristics. It noted that management uses conservative debt and investment management policies, and that this limits the Province’s exposure to market- related risks, helping to ensure relatively smooth debt servicing costs.

Each year, three bond raters review the Province’s fiscal and economic performance and assign a credit rating. These credit ratings are a measure of credit worthiness and are an important factor in determining the interest cost on new and existing debt.

“These continued good ratings are good news for Islanders,” said Minister Sheridan. “Because of positive credit ratings, our interest bite is low, meaning it costs us less to service our debt. This allowed us to be able to finance our five year capital budget, which outlines important projects, Island-wide, to further stimulate the economy.