The Russian Central Bank decided today, Sunday, to extend the closure of the stock and stock market for another week, starting from tomorrow, Monday, and ending next Friday.
This comes at a time when the Russian authorities fear a sharp drop in stock prices due to the invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent imposition of heavy sanctions on the Russian economy.
In early March, 3 major rating agencies listed Russia's long-term debt, in a degree indicating the possibility of its inability to repay its debts due to the accumulation of sanctions.
Fitch later downgraded Moscow further, assessing that the risk of a sovereign debt default was imminent.
Fitch has downgraded the debts of 28 Russian natural resource groups and estimated that a default of some sort appears likely.
The agency also downgraded the gas giant (Gazprom), the oil company (Lukoil), the mining companies Rusal, Polius and Evraz, and 23 other natural resource companies from B to CC Most of them, which means that these companies are likely not to meet their financial obligations, according to AFP, and seen by Al Arabiya.net.
