(Reuters) – S&P on Thursday lowered Russia’s rating to ‘CC’ from ‘CCC-‘, as the country reported difficulties meeting debt payments due on its dollar-denominated 2023 and 2043 Eurobonds.
Russia’s payment difficulties stem from international sanctions that reduced its available foreign exchange reserves and restricted its access to the global financial system, markets and infrastructure, the ratings agency said.
“Although public statements by the Russian Ministry of Finance suggest to us that the government currently still attempts to transfer the payment to the bondholders, we think that debt service payments on Russia’s Eurobonds due in the next few weeks may face similar technical difficulties,” the agency said. https://disclosure.spglobal.com/ratings/en/regulatory/article/-/view/type/HTML/id/2810973
Russian bonds are hovering at deeply distressed levels in very illiquid trading, with most issues trading less than a handful of times a day, according to Refinitiv data.
Some creditors have received payment, in dollars, of Russian bond coupons which fell due this week, two market sources told Reuters on Thursday. Some other creditors said they are yet to receive their funds but were optimistic they were on the way, according to the report.
(Reporting by Nishara Karuvalli Pathikkal in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)