Rise in Russia's long-term credit rating attests to economic policy efficiency

Andrei Vavilov, a member of the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of Russia's parliament), believes that a recent rise in Russia's long-term credit rating attests to high efficiency of the country's current economic policy.

Andrei Vavilov expressed this opinion in an interview with RIA Novosti when commenting on the recent decision by the Standard & Poor's international rating agency to raise Russia's both rouble-denominated and hard currency-denominated credit ratings by two grades (to BB+) and one grade (to BB) respectively.

In 1996, Vavilov headed a group of experts holding negotiations with S&P to obtain the agency's initial long-term credit rating for Russia. The negotiations lasted three months and resulted in S&P granting Russia the BB+ long-term hard currency-denominated credit rating.

"S&P has upgraded Russia's ratings in clear recognition of the fact that the Russian Government has, to a large extent, succeeded in stabilizing the national economy over the past three years," said Andrei Vavilov.

He noted that it was a very positive factor as "the higher credit rating is bound to improve Russia's general image worldwide and help the country look more investor-friendly."