Moody's lowers ratings of Moscow, St. Petersburg, three government-related entities
MOSCOW. Oct 22 (Interfax) - International ratings agency Moody's lowered the issuer ratings of Moscow and St. Petersburg in national and foreign currency, as well as the senior unsecured ratings on the cities in foreign currency to Baa2 from Baa1, Moody's said in a statement.
This follows the downgrade of Russia's sovereign bond rating to Baa2 from Baa1 with negative outlook.
"Specifically, Moody's has downgraded the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg to Baa2 from Baa1, SUE Vodokanal and OOO Vodokanal Finance to Baa3 from Baa2 and OJSC "Western High-Speed Diameter" to Ba1 from Baa3. The rating outlook for these five issuers remains negative," the agency said.
Moody's also affirmed the ratings of 17 Russian regional and local governments (RLGs). Twelve had their outlooks changed to negative from stable, namely Republic of Bashkortostan, Republic of Tatarstan, the Autonomous Okrug of Khanty-Mansiysk, Samara region, Chuvashia Republic, Krasnoyarsk territory, Komi republic, Omsk region, Nizhniy Novgorod region, City of Krasnodar, City of Omsk, and the City of Volgograd, Moody's said.
Another three, namely Krasnodar territory, Belgorod region and Vologda region, continue to have negative outlooks, while the remaining two, Moscow region (Ba2) and the Mordovia Republic (B1), continue to have stable outlooks, the statement says.
In addition, Moody's Interfax confirmed the national scale ratings on 17 regional and municipal issuers and one state-owned company: the ratings of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vodokanal St. Petersburg, Khanty-Mansiisk Autonomous District (Aaa.ru); Krasnodar territory, Samara region (Aa1.ru); Belgorod, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and Omsk regions, Chuvashia and Komi republics, Krasnodar territory and City of Krasnodar (Aa2.ru); Vologda region, cities of Omsk and Volgograd (Aa3.ru) and Mordovia (A1.ru).