Issue - meetings

Report of the Chief Executive on the mid-year update on the Council’s treasury activities 2020/21.

Cabinet noted the current treasury position and Treasury Management Indicators.

Report of the Chief Executive on the mid-year update on the Council’s treasury activities 2020/21.

(1)       The Decision Taken

RESOLVED:

Cabinet noted the current treasury position and Treasury Management Indicators.

(2)       Reasons for the Decision

Within the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), overall borrowing was £233.4M at 30 September 2020. Repayment of existing debt continues to exceed any new borrowing needed to continue to finance our ambitious Affordable Housing Programme.  The level of any new HRA borrowing will depend upon the rhythm of the programme and the extent to which Right to Buy receipts are available.  It is not envisaged, however, that borrowing will rise back above the original £305M, so we currently have sufficient borrowing headroom.

Notwithstanding continued capital expenditure in both the HRA and General Fund, investment balances have remained at approximately £20M through the first half.  There is currently no borrowing within the General Fund, partly because there have been some delays to the capital programme.  That may change later in the financial year.

As noted in section 3.6, returns on the Council’s investments are currently minimal, but we have to maintain a certain level for liquidity purposes.

As noted in section 5, the Council remains within our maturity and overall borrowing limits.

The Council’s liquidity levels continue to be carefully monitored through 2020/21 as we assess the financial impact of the Covid pandemic.