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Moody's Upgrades Russia's Debt Rating to Baa3, Changes Outlook to Stable

NEW YORK (Sputnik) - Moody's Investors Service said in a statement that it upgraded Russia’s issuer and unsecured senior debt ratings from Ba1 to Baa3 and changed its outlook from positive to stable.
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"The upgrade of Russia's ratings reflects the positive impact of policies enacted in recent years to strengthen Russia's already robust public finance and external metrics and reduce the country's vulnerability to external shocks including fresh sanctions," the statement said on Friday. "The stable outlook reflects evenly balanced upside and downside credit risks."

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Russian Finance Minister, Anton Siluanov, said on Saturday that the decision of Moody’s agency means that Moscow’s economic policy successes have been duly appreciated.

"I am happy Moody’s did justice to the obvious successes of Russia’s economic policies. Now, all three international rating agencies are recommending their clients investing in our country," Siluanov told reporters.

"It is a fair decision despite it being a bit belated. It was made due to the high quality of the Russian authorities’ macroeconomic, budget and monetary policies," the minister pointed out.

The resilience of the Russian economy to external shocks had been demonstrated during the period of volatility at developing markets last fall, Siluanov continued, noting that Russia had not suffered significant losses during it.

"The fact that all the three agencies have given Russia an investment rating will be an additional reason for investors who are considering investing in our country to do so … The Russian government, in its turn, will create new conditions for further upgrades of the rating," Siluanov stated.

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Meanwhile, Russian Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin said that rating agency Moody’s has run out of even most fantastic arguments against upgrading Russia’s credit rating.

"They were holding on for a very long time. But apparently, they have exhausted their even most fantastic arguments," Oreshkin told reporters.

READ MORE: Moody's Raises Russia's Rating to Positive From Stable, Affirms Ba1 Rating

Moody’s followed Fitch and S&P in upgrading Russia’s rating. In August, Fitch maintained Russia's issuer default credit rating at BBB- with a positive outlook, while S&P affirmed Russia’s foreign currency long- and short-term sovereign credit rating at 'BBB-/A-3' with a stable outlook in January.

Thus, Russia’s credit rating has been upgraded to investment grade by all three leading rating agencies.

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