Russia to ‘Default’ If Dollar Coupons Paid in Rubles, Fitch Says
- Failure to pay key coupon in dollars would be a default: Fitch
- Rating company has already warned of an ‘imminent default’
Russia would be in default if it doesn’t pay in U.S. currency the coupon payments that are due this Wednesday on its dollar debt within a 30-day grace period, according to credit assessor Fitch Ratings. The clock is also ticking with regard to some of the country’s ruble-denominated debt.
On the foreign-currency side, the nation has $117 million in interest payments due on Wednesday, a key moment for debt holders who have already seen the value of their investments plunge since Russia invaded Ukraine last month. These payments are the first non-ruble debt obligations to come due since the Moscow-based government said it would treat differently creditors in countries that had joined sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.