MOSCOW, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Fitch rating agency downgraded Russia's long-term forecast from "positive" to "stable" on Monday.
Fitch reconfirmed the Russia's rating on the BBB level, according to its press release.
"Political uncertainty in Russia has grown, while global economic forecast deteriorated since the previous time the Fitch confirmed the ratings in Sept. 2011. So the 'stable' prognosis better reflects the risks balance," the rating agency said.
Political uncertainty also increases the capital float risk and may affect the ruble exchange rate, Fitch said.
Ruble depreciated against the U.S. dollar by 11 percent in the last four months of 2011. Net capital outflow from Russia has amounted to 84 billion U.S. dollars in 2011, compared to 34 billion in 2010. Russian international reserves also fell to 500 billion dollars in 2011 against 545 billion in Aug. the same year.
Growth of oil prices facilitated the budget surplus which exceeded the forecasts in 2011. For 2012, Fitch predicts Russian budget deficit at two percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), higher than Russian government's forecast of 1.5 percent of GDP.
Among the risk factors, Fitch also listed euro zone crisis and possible global economy downturn.
On the positive side, Fitch marked the historically low inflation rate in Russia of 6.1 percent.
