Determination of interest rates on municipal rate loans

(a) RUS will post on the RUS website, Electric Program HomePage, a schedule of interest rates for municipal rate loans at the beginning of each calendar quarter. The schedule will show the year of maturity and the applicable interest rates in effect for all funds advanced on municipal rate loans during the calendar quarter and all interest rate terms beginning in the quarter. All interest rates will be adjusted to the nearest one eighth of one percent (0.125 percent).

(b) The rate for interest rate terms of 20 years or longer will be the average of the 20 year rates published in the Bond Buyer in the 4 weeks specified in paragraph (d) of this section for the “11-Bond GO Index” of Aa rated general obligation municipal bonds, or the successor to this index.

(c) The rate for terms of less than 20 years will be the average of the rates published in the Bond Buyer in the 4 weeks specified in paragraph (d) of this section in the table of “Municipal Market Data—General Obligation Yields” for Aa rated bonds, or the successor to this table, for obligations maturing in the same year as the interest rate term selected by the borrower.

(d) The interest rates on municipal rate loans shall not exceed the interest rate determined under section 307(a)(3)(A) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1927(a)(3)(A)) for Water and Waste Disposal loans. The method used to determine this rate is set forth in the regulations of the Rural Housing Service at 7 CFR 1942.17(f)(1) and (4). Pursuant to the RUS rule, the interest rates are set using as guidance the average of the Bond Buyer Index for the four weeks prior to the first Friday of the last month before the beginning of the quarter.

[58 FR 66260, Dec. 20, 1993, as amended at 67 FR 16969, Apr. 9, 2002; 80 FR 9861, Feb. 24, 2015]