Texas Gets an AA+ Credit Rating
Standard & Poor's raises Texas' credit rating
By HOLLY LAFON
Updated 11:45 AM CDT, Mon, Aug 17, 2009
Don’t mess with Texas, but do invest with Texas. Or at least Standard & Poor’s (S&P) recent upgrade would indicate. It has raised Texas’ issuer credit and general obligation credit ratings to AA+ from AA.
Though the economic climate is not exactly rosy, many states have the same high approval rating, most of them Midwestern. Many others have AAA – the highest the S&P gives out. California and Louisiana are currently the lowest rated states in the union, with A+ or lower scores.
Texas’ appropriation debt also took a step up from AA to AA-, and received the highest possible short-term debt ratings for tax and revenue anticipation notes (TRANs).
“The ratings continue to reflect our opinion of the state's large and steadily diversifying economy, which despite the recession continues to perform better than the nation in terms of both economic activity and employment,” S&P credit analyst Horacio Aldrete-Sanchez said. “Furthermore, we expect that the Texas economy will recover earlier and at a faster rate than most other states given its continued population growth and relatively low cost of doing business, which we expect will contribute to gradual employment gains in 2010, particularly in the health, education and services sectors.”
Such optimistic economic news could probably only help Gov. Rick Perry as he begins his campaign against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for governor.
Holly LaFon has written and worked for various local publications including D Magazine and Examiner.
Copyright NBC Local Media
First Published: Aug 17, 2009 11:15 AM CDT
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