Update: Wellington Joins the New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency

Wellington, the capital of New Zealand and the largest city after Auckland with an urban population of close to 400,000 inhabitants, has decided to join the nation’s newly established LGFA. In a press release (link) the Mayor Celia Wade-Brown states that the LGFA ‘will provide lower-cost funding for council projects’. Wellington City Council is one of 17 local authorities in New Zeeland to have invested in the agency (together with the Government that owns a 20% share). In the case of Wellington the investment was $2 million (around 1,700,000,000 USD). Wade-Brown goes on to state that the current economic crisis highlights the importance of having access to affordable funding: ‘The LGFA will increase our options for access to secure long-term funding’. The New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency holds an AA+ by Standard and Poor’s and Fitch, which is the same as the NZ Government.