The rating outlook is stable
31 of January 2014 the international rating agency Fitch Ratings confirmed the long-term issuer default rating of foreign and local currency at the level «BBB» with a stable outlook.
Experts say that Russia's creditworthiness is at a sufficient level due to the low index of public debt (11% of GDP) and a significant amount of foreign assets (23% of GDP).
To date, the country has a budget deficit at 0.5 %. The government is hoping to keep the rate below the mark of 1% to 2016.
Researchers from the rating agency believe that because of the revaluation of revenue that will come from sources not related to oil in 2014, the budget deficit will exceed the target level of 0.5 %. But the depreciation of the currency will balance the situation by increasing oil revenues in euro.
The government estimates GDP growth for 2013 only at 1.4%. This is two times less than what was stated in the official forecast. The slowdown was affected with reduction of investment, but again in the future rate is should increase. Fitch Ratings analysts expect that GDP growth in 2014 reaches 2%, due to an increase in private consumption. But recovery does not take long-term due to the reduction of the working population and the lack of structural reform.
To date, Fitch Ratings experts do not foresee events that could lead to a change in rating. Fitch assumes that the coming years will be under the social and political stability in Russia.
