Oil Plunge Saps State Budgets as Louisiana Borrows: Muni Credit
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Louisiana, which gets as much as 15 percent of its revenue from taxing oil extraction, is selling debt as slumping crude prices threaten to strain budgets of U.S. energy-producing states.
This week’s planned offering of about $200 million of general-obligation bonds follows officials’ decision last week to reduce projected revenue for the year through June 2015 by $171 million, or almost 2 percent. It’s now up to Governor Bobby Jindal to decide to cut spending or tap reserves to compensate after oil prices fell almost 25 percent this year.