Being a publicly listed entity on the Bond Exchange of South Africa (BESA), the City of Joburg is rated by two independent and renowned credit rating agencies: namely, CA ratings (local) and Fitch Ratings (International).

Fitch Credit Rating April 2007

The City of Joburg is rated by two rating agencies, Fitch Ratings and CA ratings.

• Strengthening operating margin: The operating balance, adjusted for the depreciation provisions, accounted for about 14% of operating revenue in FY05 and FY06, up from 6% in FY03, and is expected to continue to rise gradually over FY07-FY09.
• Rising self-financing of capital expenditure: Despite investment growing to above ZAR3bn by FY10, the self-financing ratio should rise to about 60%, which should moderate CoJ's borrowing requirement to an average of about ZAR1bn per year, equivalent to about 6% of the budget.
• Prudent stance on debt: Debt should remain stable at about 45% of operating revenue. The city is committed to keeping interest expenses below 7% of operating expenditure and building up reserves in the sinking funds to repay the debt at maturity.
• Relatively solid liquidity position: Liquidity grew to above ZAR2bn in FY06 from about ZAR800m in FY03. Supported by growing tax collection rates, the trend is likely to continue despite investments absorbing a large part of the annual cash generated.
• Strong economic performance: The average annual growth rate over 2003-2006 was about 6%. Income per capita of about ZAR35, 000 is about 40% above the national average, and fuels an average growth of over 10% in taxes and fees, thanks to rates adjusted to inflation and the expansion in the tax base.

• The City of Joburg's diversified local economy
• Strong operating performance
• Improvement in the City's billing systems that allow for complete revenue and strong improvement in collections
• The City of Joburg's strong cash and near cash balances
• The City of Joburg's debt burden remained moderate during 2005 with a debt to income ratio of 40%