S&P says new U.S. sanctions have no immediate impact on Russia's ratings

EghtesadOnline: The new round of U.S. sanctions against Moscow has "no immediate implications" for Russia's sovereign credit ratings, S&P Global Ratings said on Thursday.

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03 August 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump grudgingly signed into law new sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, a move Moscow said amounted to a full-scale trade war and an end to hopes for better ties with the Trump administration.

The sanctions will affect a range of Russian industries and might further damage Russia's economy, already weakened by a drop in oil prices and U.S. and European sanctions imposed in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea, Reuters reported.

"Our outlook for Russia remains unchanged," S&P said, adding it expects the economy to return to growth this year thanks to higher oil and gas prices.

"At the moment, it is unclear whether the new U.S. sanctions bill will further hamper what we currently regard as only modest medium-term economic growth prospects for Russia, since much will depend on how the bill will be implemented," S&P said.

S&P, which is set to review its Russian ratings on Sept. 15, told Reuters last month that the outlook for the sovereign credit rating was clouded by the prospect of more sanctions.

S&P has Russia's long-term foreign-currency rating one notch below investment grade at BB+, but revised its outlook on Russia to positive from stable in March.