Earlier, Fitch experts predicted Russia's GDP will shrink by 4 percent in 2015, and the growth of the country's economy will resume no earlier than 2017. On Friday, Fitch maintained the rating of Russia at the level of ‘BBB-‘ with a negative outlook, but acknowledged that its predictions about the Russian economy have not hold up.
According to the agency, Russia's economy shrank by 2.2 percent within the first six months of 2015, while in 2016 the country's GDP will grow by 1 percent.
Mikhail Emelyanov called the agency’s actions "biased, politically tendentious, and aimed to isolate Russia from the source of external capital," underlining that such actions toward Russia will have no effect.
According to the parliamentarian, previous ratings did not significantly affect the Russian economy, as all serious investors considered them politically motivated. Emelyanov noted that Chinese credit ratings for Russia are considerably higher, and Eastern financial institutions are willing to work with Russia.
Fitch lowered Russia's credit risk assessment at the start of 2015, doing the same for 30 Russian and Russian-owned financial institutions. It linked the downgrading to decreasing oil prices, national currency depreciation and the effects of a recession on the country's financial.
The 'BBB-' rating is one mark above the speculative grade, or "junk" bond category.
