TALLAHASSEE (AP) – The state’s bond finance director Tuesday defended a high-interest sale last month, blaming it on the volatile national credit market.

Responding to questions from state Cabinet members, Ben Watkins said Florida has benefited as well as suffered from dramatic changes in interest rates.

Watkins reported to Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet that Florida sold two bond issues for State University System building projects a month apart at dramatically different rates.

A $60 million university issue went for nearly 6.16 percent on Dec. 14, while the state sold $200 million in bonds for about 4.7 percent on Jan. 14.

A third bond issue of $250 million for local government water and sewer projects was sold during the first week of January with an even lower 4.42 percent interest rate, Watkins said.

“It’s really a reflection of how fragile the credit markets are and how volatile the credit markets are,” Watkins said.

He said it’s too late to undo the December sale, but the state may be able to refinance those bonds at a lower rate later on.

The state did not wait to see if rates would drop before the December sale because those bonds already had been delayed since August due to the national credit crisis, Watkins said. The sale also was in keeping with the state’s policy of executing financing when agencies need money to start projects.

Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson said he was worried about dealing with companies that were spending money on luxuries such as corporate jets after getting federal bailouts.

The December bonds were purchased by Citigroup Global Markets Inc., an arm of Citigroup Inc., which recently received $45 billion in capital from the federal government. Pressured by the Obama administration, Citigroup reversed course and said it will not take delivery of a new jet it previously planned to purchase.

“That scares me,” Bronson said. “I’m not sure they’re learning a whole lot from this process and it doesn’t appear that there were at least enough strings attached to that (federal) money to force the issue.”

Watkins said Congress is taking a hard look at how money distributed by the Troubled Assets Relief Program has been used.