Toronto Star: Basis Points

basis points: The extra interest Toronto must pay to borrow from the bond market compared with federal government benchmarks rose four basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 94 basis points since city council urged Ford to step aside after he admitted to smoking crack cocaine . During the same period, borrowing costs in the broader Bank of America Merrill Lynch Canadian Provincial Municipal Index fell one basis point, according to The Star. The crisis at city hall has escalated since the first news reports by the Toronto Star and other media six months ago that the mayor had been caught on video smoking crack cocaine. Ford refused to step down after admitting he used the drug , and that he purchased illegal drugs while mayor and Mayor Rob Ford s crack scandal is beginning to weigh on the citys finances, driving up borrowing costs and threatening to delay fixes to North Americas second-worst traffic congestion. Anybody who is outside the city or outside the country may just want to clean up their portfolios before this thing gets even uglier, said Hosen Marjaee, senior managing director of fixed income at Manulife Asset Management Ltd., which manages $16 billion in debt, including Toronto bonds. I m not worried about the city or city finances or the ability to pay its debt, I m worried about the negative press its getting, and inability to move on. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.