Water reforms won't stave off council ratings downgrades

Councils must fund billions of dollars in water infrastructure repairs. (Image: NZME)

Fri, 08 Nov 2024

More credit rating downgrades for heavily indebted local councils are almost inevitable, despite water reforms that will allow councils to shift debt onto the balance sheets of new water services entities.“Right now, this the first time where we have had such a prolonged set of negative credit actions” relating to New Zealand local governments, a Melbourne-based analyst for international credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) said.Analyst Martin Foo spoke to BusinessDesk after S&P’s Oct 30 downgrad...

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