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S&P affirms Russia's rating with stable outlook

20 July 2019 11:12 (UTC +04:00)

S&P Global Ratings affirmed Russia’s “BBB-/A-3” credit rating on Friday, reiterating that the country’s solid public and external balance sheets are able to offset potential international sanctions and geopolitical tension, APA reports citing Reuters.

“In the event of fresh sanctions, we think the Russian authorities would focus on containing macroeconomic risks and limit retaliatory action,” it said.

Russia is rated investment grade by all three big international rating agencies, including Moody’s and Fitch, which helped Moscow this year to borrow money in global markets by issuing Eurobonds.

Russia, however, remains vulnerable to external risks.

Russia’s investment-grade credit rating would survive some moderate new U.S. economic sanctions but not ones which targeted existing government debt, the country’s biggest banks or crunched energy firms, S&P said earlier this year.

Russia’s rating agency ACRA had warned earlier that Moscow could lose investors and face higher borrowing costs if the United States imposes a ban on buying new Russian government bonds, proceeding with one of various penalties mulled by Washington.