Moody's affirms ratings of Moscow, St. Petersburg, 16 cities, regions, downgrades rating of Mordovia
MOSCOW. April 27 (Interfax) - Moody's Investors Service has affirmed the ratings of Moscow and the Moscow region, and also St. Petersburg, another 12 Russian regions and three cities and two state companies, the agency said in a statement.
In addition the agency downgraded the ratings of Mordovia from "B2" to "B3" amid the substantial increase of the debt burden and weak budget revenues.
"Moody's will withdraw the ratings on Oblast of Belgorod [affirmed at "B1"] because of inadequate information to monitor the rating, due to the issuer's decision to cease participation in the rating process. The regional government has not communicated any additional information to Moody's since November 2015. At the same time, the publicly available information is not sufficient to analyze the refinancing risks and budgetary performance, and to make reliable assumptions about future performance," Moody's said.
"Specifically, Moody's has confirmed the following ratings with a negative outlook: the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, SUE Vodokanal of St. Petersburg, OJSC Western High-Speed Diameter, Republic of Bashkortostan, Republic of Tatarstan, Autonomous-Okrug (region) of Khanty-Mansiysk, Oblast of Moscow and Oblast of Omsk," Moody's said.
Analysts concluded that the issuers are not experiencing a substantial increase in pressure on their credit indicators.
"Concurrently, Moody's has affirmed the ratings with negative outlooks of Oblast of Samara, Chuvashia Republic, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Krasnodar Krai, Republic of Komi, Oblast of Nizhniy Novgorod, City of Krasnodar, City of Volgograd, City of Omsk and Oblast of Belgorod," the agency said.
This "reflects Moody's assessment that these regions' fiscal performances are adequate for their rating categories. Pressure from refinancing risks has partially abated as soft loans from the central government continue to ease the regions' refinancing needs. Debt affordability remains adequate and is supported by ongoing lending from state-owned banks," Moody's said.
All ratings had "negative" outlooks in light of the systematic risks in Russia and the probability of the further deterioration of their credit indicators.