Issue - meetings

Emily Bennetts – Finance Business Partner – introduced the report to allow the robust scrutiny of the Council’s treasury management performance to date in 2018/19 in compliance with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Code of Practice on Treasury Management and generally accepted good practice.

The main headlines contained in the update included:-

·         The Bank of England Base Rate remained unchanged at 0.75%;

·         A shortfall of £10,000 was forecast against the investment income budget due to increased internal borrowing which reduced funds available to invest;

·         The Ascent debenture income budget was on target and a small shortfall of £6,500 was forecast against the loan income budget pending the outcome of the Ascent Business Plan review;

·         The borrowing costs budget to support the existing Ascent loan balance and a potential general fund borrowing requirement was forecast to be £67,00 under budget owing to the use of internal borrowing and some re-profiling of the capital programme;

·         The average return on investments was 0.63% during the period 1 October to 31 December 2018. This compared favourably to short-term industry benchmarks;

·         The Council’s investment portfolio totalled £6.8 million spread across 4 separate institutions as at 31 December 2018;

·         The Council’s current level of debt was £7 million at an average annual borrowing rate of 1.88%.

It was noted that the likely ‘winding-up’ of Ascent Housing LLP was likely to have a significant impact on the Council’s finances.

RESOLVED – That the Council’s Treasury Management position as at 31 December 2018 be NOTED.