WASHINGTON, April 18. /TASS/. There are no reasons to say that Russia is in the non-investment zone, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told the media on Friday.
"We believe that we are in a situation where there are no reasons to say that we are in a non-investment zone," he said.
The Finance Ministry has already held meetings with two rating agencies, and another one, with Moody’s, a reliable source in the Russian delegation told TASS.
Siluanov said that Fitch, the sole rating agency in the "big three" group that had so far avoided downgrading Russia’s rating to a non-investment level had not made a rating decision yet.
"We have held meetings with all rating agencies. I personally met with Fitch. They are not revising the rating for the time being. They said they had postponed consideration of the Russian situation. They will be studying the situation in the economy in depth," he said.
Siluanov pointed out that "in the final count it is up to the agencies to decide" and that "we cannot influence the decision."
He does not expect the rating’s fast return to the investment level.
"The rating was downgraded. A fast pull-back towards the investment rating is unlikely to happen," he said, adding that "positive trends in the economy are to have a temporal factor to rely on."
Also, Siluanov believes that Moody’s negative forecast offered as the reason for the agency’s decision to explain the rating’s revision has failed to be confirmed.
"It is clear that the arguments Moody’s relied on in its decision to downgrade the rating have failed to come true," he said.