Moody’s has downgraded Russia to “junk” level – BBC Russian

Moody's has downgraded Russia to "junk" level – BBC Russian

• February 21, 2015

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Moody’s – the second of the three major agencies, downgraded Russia to “junk” level

The international rating agency Moody’s lowered the rating of government bonds of the Russian Federation at the level of Baa3 to Ba1 with a negative outlook, moving them, so in the “junk” zone, which fall speculative paper, not worth the investment.

The Agency believes that in 2015 the Russian economy expects a deep recession, the recession will continue in 2016.

Among other reasons for the downgrade named alleged further weakening of fiscal sustainability and foreign exchange reserves and “unpredictable political dynamics”. Moody’s indicates “very low, but growing” risk of making the Russian authorities decisions that jeopardize the timely payment of external debt.

The head of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Anton Siluanov responded by saying that in deciding whether to downgrade the agency used extremely pessimistic and guided by political factors.

“I think Moody’s assessment of not only prohibitively negative, but based on an extremely pessimistic outlook, which has no analogues today,” – said Siluanov.

In a press release the Ministry of Finance on the downgrade, it is noted that the agency not taken into account the strengths of the Russian economy and financial system.