Financial Ombudsman: Moody's 'junk' rating for Russia is reasonable
The financial ombudsman of the Russian Federation, Pavel Medvedev, has declared that he doesn't see prospects for growth of the Russian economy any time soon. In his opinion, the "junk" rating assigned by Moody's agency is not politicized and therefore is quite reasonable.
Medvedev explained his position in an interview with the Govorit Moskva radio station.
"It is considered that their ratings are politicized, but it seems to me that this opinion isn't very reasonable. The matter is that their ratings are read generally by foreigners, not by Russians. And if they lie, then the foreigners, at the expense of whom they generally exist, will discontinue addressing them. Therefore, unfortunately, with a heart ache we have to agree with what they say. The situation here with us definitely isn’t getting any better. We are entering a period of a very heavy stagnation; and if stagnation, not growth, so how is it possible to improve the rating?" Medvedev said.
At the same time, the ombudsman says that he doesn't see any prospects of growth for the Russian economy any time soon. "There is no prospect… It’s a very dangerous situation, an outbreak may happen. The decision is being made – not to do anything. I think that the prospect is very bad,” he stated.
Medvedev was promoted to the position of financial ombudsman on October 1, 2010. His primary duty is to act as a conciliator between financial institutes and their clients.
Earlier, the head of the State Duma International Affairs Committee, Alexey Pushkov, doubted the objectivity of Moody's, writing on Twitter "Moody’s has confirmed the garbage rating of Russia. But as for Ukrainian rating, they recently changed it from negative to a stabilized! Ridiculous."
In February of 2016, Moody's confirmed Ukraine’s rating at the CAA3 level with a stable forecast. On the agency’s scale this level is several steps lower than the BA1 level awarded to Russia. Until November of 2015, Ukraine was at the default imminent CA level. Following Ukraine’s agreement on restructuring, their rating was raised to the current CAA rating.