Retaining the Triple-A Rating

Maryland is one of only five states in the nation to emerge from the recession with a
Triple-A general obligation bond rating from all three major bond rating agencies.

Awarded to Maryland by Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's Corporation
and Fitch Investors Service, the Triple-A rating is the best available and generally assures the
state will receive the lowest available interest rate when the Board of Public Works sells
general obligation bonds.

The rating saved Maryland taxpayers more than $6 million in interest costs at a bond
sale held May 18, 1994, compared to the cost for a sale carrying a double-A rating - only one
ranking below Maryland's. Just since 1986, Maryland's prized rating has saved taxpayers
more than $53 million in interest costs, compared to a double-A rating.

Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein and other state officials have worked actively to retain
the Triple-A rating for Maryland - despite challenges that included inflation, recession, and
upheavals in the savings and loan and defense industries.

General Obligation Bond Sales - Fiscal Year 1994

6%- 5%- Interest 4%~ rate 3%- 2%-	A	A	A
1%-	$283,170,000	$184,210,000	$120,000,000
1 /O	4.448%	4.478%	5.359%
0	October6, 1993	February 16, 1994	May 18, 1994

"(State) officials acted responsibly
and prudently...(to deal with the
recession's impact)."

Moody's Investor Service,
May 13, 1994