標題: Province retains AAA credit rating [打印本頁] 作者: tiffiant 時間: 2011-8-29 06:37 標題: Province retains AAA credit rating
Province retains AAA credit rating
Despite British Columbians voting to axe the HST
News1130 Staff Aug 28, 2011 14:01:46 PM
10 Related Stories
VICTORIA (NEWS1130) - The province may be on shaky financial ground now that the HST has been rejected, but our credit rating is still tops.
According to Finance Minister Kevin Falcon, Standard and Poor's considers BC's revenues strong enough to meet its deficit targets. Falcon says the rating is significant, given global economic uncertainty.
"It's a time when there's a lot of international uncertainty where we may be headed back into another global recession or at least North American recession. The fact that we have the highest possible credit in BC is something we should be proud of," he tells News1130.
But News1130 Business Editor Richard Dettman explains this is good news with a warning.
"S&P is being very clear about this: You've got to go get the money from somewhere and you've got to find $1.6 billion to pay back to Ottawa," he says. "Those are serious issues, but they're also issues that were known before the result of the referendum came out."
He adds that S&P released this information moments after the results of the HST referendum were announced on Friday.
"They were obviously looking ahead and trying to decide ahead of time what the effect would be, and that was the result," he explains.
The agency says the province will have its challenges - namely, the need to address the loss in federal revenue and the expenses of switching back to the PST/GST system.
Falcon will meet with Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty next month to negotiate how BC will repay $1.6 billion作者: tiffiant 時間: 2011-8-29 06:38
