Bloomberg: Guam bonds beating entire municipal market

by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - Guam is getting some national recognition for its finances. A Bloomberg article online reports that Guam bonds are beating the entire municipal market in 2014 for the fifth time in six years. The report goes on to state that in the nine years before that the territory's issuers outpaced all local debt just once.

Guam Economic Development Authority board chairman E.J. Calvo says this is great news as Guam's financial status has slowly been improving. "GEDA as well as the Governor's Office has been working hard to improve our bonds status and our staff has done a great job everytime they visit with the rating offices 0701 and this report is I think good news to promote to the rest of the world what we already know that we're headed in the right direction," he said.

The article further compares Guam with another U.S. territory, saying the island is moving in the opposite direction of Puerto Rico, who is grappling with "junk ratings" and about $70 billion worth of debt among island issuers. Bloomberg also recognized Guam's S&P investment rating rise to 'BB-', the highest it's been since 2003.