STOCKHOLM (Standard&Poor's) March 28, 2008--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said it had raised its long-term issuer credit rating on the Municipality of Sundsvall to 'AA' from 'AA-'. The outlook is stable. At the same time the 'K-1' Nordic scale short-term rating was affirmed. "The rating action reflects the very strong system support and institutional stability of the Swedish local and regional government (LRG) system, the municipality's sound budgetary performance, and a moderate debt burden, a large part of which is onlent to self-supporting municipal companies," Standard&Poor's credit analyst Gabriel Forss said. "Offsetting these strengths are the municipality's unfunded pension liabilities, which are in line with the Swedish average, and an above national average tax rate
