DALLAS -- Texas received an historic low interest rate of 0.201% on its Aug. 27 sale of tax and revenue anticipation notes, state comptroller Susan Combs said.
“The best ratings from Wall Street ratings firms and strong demand for Texas notes helped drive down the borrowing cost,” Combs said.
Texas has sold annual TRANs since fiscal 1987. Money from TRAN sales is used to help fund expenditures such as public school payments early in the fiscal year and manage cash flow between the start of the fiscal year and the arrival of tax revenues later in the year.
Buyers bid about $16.7 billion, more than twice the amount offered for sale, Combs said. “The competitive bids for today’s sale show that investors are very confident in the Texas economy and the direction it’s heading.”
The series 2013 notes represent approximately 8.8% of projected general revenues for fiscal 2014, a proportion significantly smaller than the state's note issuance in the past three fiscal years.
“We believe that the declining trend in the state's annual cash borrowing needs is a reflection of its strong economic and revenue performance, which we believe is likely to be maintained through the forecast period,” S&P analyst Horacio Aldrete-Sanchez wrote in his report.
The $7.2 billion in notes will be repaid on Aug. 28, 2014.
