Page 114 - RusRPTSept21

country has scored was Baa1 in March 2013 as economy bounced back from the 2008 crisis.
Fitch rates Ukraine at BBB- on both its foreign and local currency debt with no outlook indicated.
Fitch has been a lot more upbeat on Russia and has consistently ranked if with a treble B rating since 2004 of one sort or another, as it take more account of Russia rock solid fundamentals – the low external debt and large currency reserves. The lowest rating it had was CCC in August 2008 following the currency meltdown. The highest rating was Baa1 in March 2013 thanks to the economic rebound that year.
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) rates both Russia’s foreign debt at BBB- with stable outlook and the local debt at BBB.
S&P has also been fairly consistent on Russia’s rating. Its lowest grade was BB+ (negative) awarded in January 2015. The highest was BBB awarded in December 2008.
8.5 Fixed income
The CBR reported that foreign investment in federal loan bonds (OFZs) rose by RUB169bn ($2.3bn) in July, increasing at the highest rate since February. Foriegn investors share of OFZ has risen above 20% again to 20.6% from 19.7% in June. The low point was set in April at 19.5% but the share is still down from the peak of 34.9% set in March 2020.
Among investors domestically, the CBR found that 6-7% of Russians are investing in securities, indicating that not only rich Russians are investing. As investment looks promising, the possibility of the CBR lowering its target inflation rate below its current 4% target in a year’s time becomes more likely.
114 RUSSIA Country Report September 2021 www.intellinews.com