Cash-strapped Belarus has finally made it onto the international ratings map – both Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s have assigned it ratings ahead of a planned debut sovereign Eurobond, which should be launched in the fourth quarter. Moody’s rated the country at its Ba2 level for foreign currency borrowings, and S&P graded it B+.
Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has been forced to look to the west to secure funds to prop up the country’s finances after Russian state gas company Gazprom doubled gas prices from $47 per 1,000 cubic metres in 2006 to $105 this year.