Looser local govt debt rules part of infrastructure drive

Tue, 05 May 2020

The Local Government Funding Agency plans to loosen the limits on how much debt larger councils can take on relative to their income, giving them more headroom to help fund a national infrastructure programme. The proposals would let 30 councils with an ‘A’ credit rating or higher take on net debt equivalent to 300 percent of their total income in the June 2021 and 2022 financial years, up from 250 percent currently. It would then taper off at a rate of 5 percentage points each year to 280 percent by 2026. The extra headroom is needed to...

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