In our view, the Italian City of Milan continues to show "very positive" liquidity and its budgetary performance remains in line with our expectations, which further underpins our assessment that the city's financial management is "positive" for the rating. Milan benefits from a powerful economy with strong tax bases. We are affirming our 'BBB' long-term rating on Milan. The negative outlook mirrors that on Italy, reflecting the possibility that we could downgrade the city should we downgrade Italy. On Dec. 20, 2013, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'BBB' long-term issuer credit rating on the Italian City of Milan. The outlook is negative. The rating on Milan primarily reflects our long-term rating on the Republic of Italy (unsolicited BBB/Negative/A-2).
