MOSCOW, January 27 (Sputnik) – S&P decision to downgrade Russia’s credit rating is politically motivated and does not reflect the true economic situation in Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.
“Such a decision has little to do with economy, it is biased and pre-arranged. Serious companies are unlikely to take into account ratings that fail to reflect the true situation,” he said.
On Monday, Standard & Poor's ratings agency announced that it had lowered Russia's sovereign ratings to "junk" status from a "good" BBB- to a "speculative" BB+ with negative outlook.
A "junk" status rating shows that a country or a company is expected to default on its debt. The "junk" bonds or speculative grade bonds are not generally legal for purchase by banks.
In January, international ratings agency Fitch Ratings downgraded Russia's credit rating from BBB to BBB- citing oil price declines and ruble depreciation. Another rating agency, Moody's, downgraded Russia's government bond rating to Baa3 from Baa2 with a possibility of a further downgrade, referring to the same reasons.
