R.I. residents snap up state bonds

PROVIDENCE – The state of Rhode Island got a helping hand from some of its residents last week when it sold $79.78 million in refunding general obligation bonds.
R.I. General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio said $50 million worth of bonds were sold to retail investors – about 75 percent of whom were from Rhode Island.
“Once again we made these tax-free bonds available to suitable Rhode Island investors first, and once again they had a strong interest in purchasing them,” Caprio, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, said in a press release. “This refunding bond sale will save the state almost $3 million in interest costs. The time was right to do the sale, and the results proved our timing was correct.”
The tax-exempt bonds have returns ranging from 0.72 percent on a one-year bond to 3.69 percent for bonds with a 2020 maturity date.
The sale came last week as Fitch Ratings Service upgraded the state’s credit rating from AA- to AA as part of Fitch’s re-calibration of public debt under a new universal ratings scale.