Horowhenua's institutional settings and high levels of budgetary flexibility support the ratings on the New Zealand local government. At the same time, we do not expect political disagreements to affect the council's credit profile. Management remains focused on delivering the council's large capital program leading to reasonably large after-capital deficits and higher debt levels. We are affirming our 'A+' long-term foreign-currency and local-currency ratings and 'A-1' short-term ratings on Horowhenua. The stable outlook reflects our expectations that Horowhenua's financial management will manage its financial position in line with our forecasts, while it delivers its large capital expenditure program and addresses significant infrastructure backlogs. On April 9, 2018, S&P Global Ratings affirmed its 'A+' long-term foreign currency and local currency and
