"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."
"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.
"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.