The credit rating agency Fitch has raised Zapopan from an AA to a AAA rating, according to Mayor Pedro Lemus.
This elevates the metro-area municipality into a privileged club of just four cities in Mexico with this status. The others are Queretero, Chihuahua and Puebla.
Lemus said the rating change is the result of the current administration managing to reduce the municipality’s debt by 20 percent, thanks to savings in spending, an increase in income and more profitable investment strategies. He also noted that new job creation in Zapopan accounts for 40 percent of the total in Jalisco, and referred to the municipality as “Jalisco’s economic engine.”
Since 2015, when Lemus took office, Zapopan’s budget has increased by 56 percent, he pointed out.
AAA is the highest possible rating and reflects an opinion that that the issuer has the current capacity to meet its debt obligations and has an extremely low solvency risk from changes in business, financial or economic conditions.