Taking advantage of a friendly market, the Abercrombie administration sold $867 million in bonds in November, attracting the lowest interest rate in state history.

The state sold $470 million in general obligation bonds for new construction projects and refinanced $397 million worth of bonds at a lower interest rate, which will save $54 million in repayment of interest and principal. The interest rate for the bond sale was 2.6 percent, the lowest in the state’s history.

Hawaii’s credit ratings — Aa2/AA/AA — were also reaffirmed, a sign of confidence in the state’s financial management. Moody’s Investors Service, one of the primary credit rating agencies, had downgraded the state’s credit rating in May 2011 because of some of the stopgap solutions used to contain a budget deficit and the unfunded liabilities for public employee pension and health care.

The state completed a record bond sale of nearly $1.3 billion last November. Gov. Neil Abercrombie said the new bond sale shows that the state is on the right fiscal path halfway through his four-year term.

“Confidence not only has been renewed, but it’s been enhanced,” Abercrombie said at a news conference Tuesday at the state Capitol.

The new bond sale follows other positive financial trends. Hawaii’s unemployment rate declined to 5.5 percent in October, the lowest in nearly four years. Higher spending by visitors this year has also been projected because of stronger-than-expected growth in tourism.

But the strength of the state’s economic recovery is still uncertain, and Abercrombie and state legislators might not have enough tax revenue to satisfy pent-up demand for state spending.

Abercrombie will release his draft of the two-year budget and six-year financial plan to the Legislature later this month but will likely not unveil all of the details until his State of the State address in January.

The state Council on Revenues will meet in early January to update its 4.9 percent revenue growth forecast for this fiscal year, which could influence the budget discussion.

Most of the tax adjustments and labor savings that were used to help close the budget deficit will expire at the end of the fiscal year in June. Hawaii could also lose between $25 million and $40 million for state programs if President Barack Obama and Congress do not prevent a “fiscal cliff” of tax increases and federal spending cuts.

Kalbert Young, the state’s budget director, said the state wants to restore the 5 percent taken from public employees to help with the deficit.

Young said it is likely that the administration will seek some type of revenue enhancement — similar to the tax adjustments made during the past few years — to help finance the state’s priorities.

Young also said the administration wants to demonstrate a commitment to reducing the multibillion-dollar liabilities in public employee pension and health care funds. But setting aside a substantial amount of money to reduce future liabilities may be difficult when there is pressure to take immediate steps to restore money for social service programs.

Abercrombie, who met with bond-rating agencies before the November sale, made an appeal to investors through radio advertisements. The bond sale included $66 million in individual retail orders, with $34.7 million from investors in Hawaii. He said local investors “understand that we’re on the right path, that we’ve got a fiscal plan that makes sense, that we’re moving towards that shortfall that we know we have to come to grips with, that everybody understands that we’re going to deal effectively and openly on our unfunded liabilities, that we’re going to meet the standards for initiatives that will show progress for our people and that we’re going to be able to recognize whatever we have to do by way of collective bargaining and the stability of our public workforce.”