THE ACT government has been awarded the highest credit rating possible, the only Australia state or territory to hold the strong global financial endorsement.

International credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s have affirmed the ACT credit rating at “AAA/A-1+” to recognise its stable fiscal position following a pandemic-delayed release of the 2020-21 budget last month.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr highlighted that government spending was the backbone to stimulating both the economy and jobs while retaining consumer spending for the jobless that were left behind from JobKeeper and JobSeeker schemes with the Jobs for Canberrans fund initiative set out by the government in April 2020.

The territory also stared down the predictable economic threat from COVID-19 to also be the only sub-national government in the Asia-Pacific region to be handed the AAA rating.

The Labor-Green government was quick to boast that “the approach we took to invest in our community and protect local jobs has been a success”.

“We injected much needed support into our economy to stimulate spending,” Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.

“We supported industries impacted by COVID-19 restrictions and delivered a program of infrastructure upgrades across the city to keep people employed.

“This work isn’t over and the government remains committed to supporting the growth of our economy over the coming decade.

“We have an ambitious infrastructure pipeline that will create good local jobs in the years ahead.”

According to Standards & Poor’s, the ACT economy is recovering strongly from a COVID-19-induced downturn from 2020.

The government has claimed it’s on track to reach a target of 250,000 local jobs by 2025.

“Our rating on ACT reflects its robust financial management: a very high-income economy, which relies on the public sector and is outperforming most peers, and exceptional levels of liquidity,” Mr Barr said.

The government has promised to deliver the services and infrastructure “our growing city needs” all the while “managing our fiscal recovery” at the 2021-22 budget in August.

A $914 million investment into an infrastructure and capital works projects program will be the cornerstone behind the bold fiscal prediction.