Moody’s: Oil spill could be worse than hurricanes, recession

[marmar]

Moody’s: Oil spill could be worse than hurricanes, recession
Tampa Bay Business Journal



A report from Moody’s Investors Service warns that Florida’s economy could be hit hard if the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico hits the state’s coastline.

“The state’s high dependence on tourism dollars and jobs is significant and a gradually worsening disaster associated with any part of Florida’s 1,197 coastline miles could likely have long-term implications even greater than the recent global recession or Hurricane Ivan in 2004,” Moody’s said in a special comment issued Tuesday.

The oil leak resulting from the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon on April 20 off the coast of Louisiana may ultimately result in negative credit impacts for state and local governments, the report said. Moody’s and other credit agencies assign ratings to the debt issued by state and local governments; those ratings help determine the interest rate paid on the debt.

Any rating change would follow careful assessment of the spill’s impact on taxable property valuation, property tax levies, revenue performance, state aid and timely debt service repayment, said Edith Behr, author of the report and vice president-senior credit officer. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2010/05/17/daily30.html