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Ronald, Citigroup Client , SG Sent from my BlackBerry® -----Original Message----- From: MeLinda MeLisa <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 08:55:56 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: [StockForex] S&P : Ratings On South Australia & SAFA Affirmed At 'AAA/A-1+' S&P : Ratings On South Australia & SAFA Affirmed At 'AAA/A-1+' The following is a press release from Standard & Poor's: MELBOURNE (Standard & Poor's) Dec. 14, 2010--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it had affirmed its counterparty credit ratings on the State of South Australia and the South Australian Government Financing Authority at 'AAA/A-1+'. The outlook is stable. The ratings on South Australia are supported by our opinion of the strong institutional framework benefiting state governments in Australia, South Australia's demonstrated fiscal discipline and its strengthening operating performance. These strengths are offset, as with all Australian states, by an institutional framework that features some structural imbalance between revenue power and expenditure responsibilities as well as a growing WorkCover liability. "The stable outlook reflects our expectation that South Australia will continue to manage its finances prudently over the next two years," said credit analysts Anna Hughes. "We believe that the government will deliver on its savings measure and that the state's operating position will improve as forecast by the state". The ratings could be re-assessed if the government waivers on its savings measures, there is further deterioration in the state's operating position, or the state's WorkCover liability grows unabated. The most likely scenarios for this to occur would be a lack of political will to address growing contingent liabilities or the inability of the government to delivery on the proposed savings; or if new expenditure proposals are not matched by either stronger revenue growth or additional savings measures. Standard & Poor's does not view any of these scenarios as likely. "Although the state has exceeded the non-financial public sector net financial liabilities review level set by Standard & Poor's, South Australia's metrics remain consistent with an 'AAA' rating", added Ms. Hughes. "South Australia's net financial liabilities are projected by the government to peak at around 100% in fiscal 2011 before declining over the forward estimates. Given that the increase in net financial liabilities is temporary and partly reflects changes to the discount rate, the breach of the ratings review level previously identified by Standard & Poor's (80%-90% of operating revenues) is not likely to lead to a review of the rating." Source: http://marketpin.blogspot.com/
