Odessa's Credit Rating Assessment: New Horizons
Recognizing the importance of a professional credit rating assessment for the city of Odessa, the Department of Finance of the Odessa City Council has been collaborating with rating agencies for over a decade.
On December 5, 2024, the independent rating agency «Credit-Rating» confirmed the long-term credit rating of Odessa at uaAA-, with a «stable» outlook.
This credit rating is based on the analysis of economic and financial indicators for the first half of 2024, as well as projections for the entire year, including demographic data, labor market information, data on the city's debt obligations, municipal property, and future plans.
Supporting factors for the credit rating:
• high level of budget security: the ratio of the general fund budget revenues per capita to the average local budget figures (excluding transfers) for the first half of 2024 stood at 104.3%;
• growth in budget revenues (excluding transfers) from 2014 to 2023 and in the first half of 2024, along with high liquidity indicators;
• diversification of the city’s economic activities and low concentration of budget revenues from major taxpayers;
• low level of consolidated debt burden of the community budget and effective local debt management policies aimed at optimizing its volume and structure, along with a good credit history.
Factors limiting the credit rating:
• negative effects of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine on the financial market, the country's economy, and socio-economic development of individual communities;
• high need for additional financing, including for the restoration of city infrastructure and utilities.
Considering the importance of a professional credit rating assessment, the Department of Finance of the Odessa City Council will continue its collaboration with the rating agency in 2025 to update the credit rating of Odessa.
Information about all credit ratings determined by the agency under the National Rating Scale is available on the website www.credit-rating.ua, as well as in the information systems BLOOMBERG, S&P Capital IQ.
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According to the rules for determining the rating assessment by the authorized rating agency under the National Rating Scale, approved by the NCSSMC on January 12, 2016, updates should occur at least once every six months. On February 28, 2022, the rating agency «Credit-Rating» announced that due to risks related to the war initiated by Russia against Ukraine, all ratings were transferred to the Watchlist. On March 31, 2023, the credit rating of Odessa was updated to uaAA-. The outlook remains stable, attributed to effective local debt management and significant reduction in the community budget's debt burden due to early repayment of loans taken by the city council.
