"The largest American Indian tribe, the Navajo Nation, plans to issue its first bonds in a $120 million offering that would be the biggest sale of nongaming tribal debt in at least a decade. The tribe intends to use the money to create thousands of jobs and stimulate the economy on its reservation in America’s Southwest. Despite the Navajo Nation’s energy revenue, more than 37 percent of the reservation’s 170,000 residents lived below the federal poverty level in 2009. “I am concerned with the time when we won’t have revenues from our natural resources,” said Katherine Benally, head of the Navajo Nation Council’s resources and development committee, while taking a break from a council budget session in Window Rock, Ariz. “We need to be ready for that.”

Gross revenue for the tribe was about $193 million in fiscal 2010, with $29 million from oil and gas and $61 million from coal royalties, according to budget documents. In May, Standard & Poor’s (MHP) awarded the Navajo Nation an A rating—one level above California’s—citing its natural resource revenue and cash reserves of more than $1 billion."

Get the Story:
A Bond Offering from the Navajo Nation (Business Week 11/10)

Related Stories:
Fronteras: Navajo Nation set to offer $120M bond package (11/3)
Navajo Nation to offer $120M in bonds to finance projects (11/1)