Commonwealth Bond Rating Affirmed

The affirmation comes days before Massachusetts’ next scheduled bond sale

February 13, 2009 – State Treasurer Tim Cahill announced today that the Commonwealth’s bond ratings have been affirmed ahead of its next General Obligation bond sale. On Thursday, Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investor Services and Standard & Poor’s all affirmed the Commonwealth’s credit ratings at AA, Aa2, and AA with a stable outlook.

“This is very good news for the Commonwealth,” said Treasurer Cahill. “Credit matters a great deal in these very difficult market conditions. The affirmations reflect the fact that the rating agencies still view the Commonwealth as a very strong credit, even in this economic downturn.”

The ratings were assigned ahead of the Commonwealth’s upcoming bond sale. Next week, the Commonwealth will sell approximately $430 million of bonds for new money purposes and $96 million for a refunding. The sale will begin on Tuesday, February 17^th. As in past sales, Commonwealth bonds will be available to individual investors only during an early order period on Tuesday, February 17^th and Wednesday, February 18^th. This allows Massachusetts investors to purchase bonds before bonds are offered to institutional investors on Thursday, February 12^th.

Since March of 2005, the Commonwealth’s ratings on its General Obligation Bonds have been ‘AA’. Bond ratings are an independent opinion of the general creditworthiness of an obligor, such as the Commonwealth, based on relevant risk factors. Ratings are based on an issuer’s ability to repay fully the principal and interest of its short-term or long-term debt obligations, on a timely basis. For General Obligation bonds, ratings are based primarily on four main factors: the economy, the issuer’s financial position, the issuer’s current and future debt burden, and financial management.

For more information on the Commonwealth’s bond ratings or about the upcoming sale, please visit www.buymassachusettsbonds.com.

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