The international financial research company Standard & Poor's raised Sofia's credit rating from "BB+ Stable Perspective" to "BB+ Positive Perspective" on Wednesday.

"The raise results from the improved tax autonomy, the gradual absorption of the EU funds, and high economic growth of the city", the Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov announced at a press conference.

The Deputy Mayor Minko Gerdzhikov, who is in charge of the capital's finances, underscored that the increased credit rating meant a recommendation for investments, and that Sofia was a low-risk city for investors.

Mayor Borisov admitted that Standard & Poor's also pointed to certain weaknesses of the Bulgarian capital such as the weak institutional frame, the limited flexibility of incomes and expenditures, and pressure by municipal companies which could not make enough to support themselves.

Borisov and Gerdzhikov announced that the municipal administration had rectified the flaws indicated earlier by the National Audit Office including the renting of municipal real estate property by political parties, the low prices of municipal apartments, the situating of advertising facilities and commercial establishments in park areas, and the management of two municipal properties in the Russian capital Moscow.

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