RAO UES comments on upgraded credit rating of Russia

The government could receive higher evaluations from foreign investors in the event it conducted more consistent structural reforms in natural monopolies, a source in the national energy grid RAO UES of Russia reported commenting on Russia's upgraded credit sovereign rating to BB and BB+ in foreign and local currency respectively.

Yury Melikhov, head of the RAO UES press service, told an RBC correspondent that minimizing barter settlements and eliminating the "vicious" practice of non-payments, in particular, in the electrical energy sector, played an important role in making Russia's economy more attractive for foreign capital.

The source in the RAO UES recalled that several large foreign energy companies, such as E.ON Energie, ENEL and EDF expressed their serious interest to energy projects in Russia. "We hope that the upgraded Russian credit ratings will become an additional stimulus for western companies to participate in reforming the Russian energy industry," Melikhov concluded.

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