Russia

Oil is backing up through Russia’s energy supply chain and leading to a drop in crude-oil production, a blow to Moscow’s main economic engine as the war in Ukraine rages, the Wall Street Journal reported. Refiners are trimming output and in some cases closing down because of falling demand at home and abroad. Storage space is running low in pipelines and tanks. Wells, which pump from some of the world’s biggest crude reserves, are dialing down production. The losses so far are modest, and overall the industry continues to generate massive amounts of revenue for Moscow.

Russian Railways JSC has been ruled in default by a derivatives panel after missing a bond interest payment, the first such decision since Russia was slapped with extensive sanctions that complicated financial transactions, Bloomberg News reported. A failure-to-pay credit event occurred after a coupon due on March 14 failed to reach investors by the end of a 10-day grace period, according to the Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee. The decision could set a precedent for the Russian government and local companies which have found themselves in a similar position.

The credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has downgraded its assessment of Russia’s ability to repay foreign debt, signaling rising prospects that Moscow will soon default on external loans for the first time in more than a century, the Associated Press reported. S&P Global Ratings issued the downgrade to “selective default” late Friday after Russia arranged to make foreign bond payments in rubles on Monday when they were due in dollars. It said it didn’t expect Russia to be able to convert the rubles into dollars within the 30-day grace period allowed.

Russia will take legal action if the West tries to force it to default on its sovereign debt, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper on Monday, sharpening Moscow's tone in its financial wrestle with the West, Reuters reported. "Of course we will sue, because we have taken all the necessary steps to ensure that investors receive their payments," Siluanov told the newspaper in an interview. "We will present in court our bills confirming our efforts to pay both in foreign currency and in roubles. It will not be an easy process.

Russia will halt bond auctions for the remainder of 2022 due to prohibitive borrowing costs, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was quoted as saying by Izvestia, Bloomberg News reported. “We do not plan to go to the local market or foreign markets this year,” Siluanov told the Russian outlet. “It makes no sense because the borrowing cost would be cosmic.” With Russia under financial and economic sanctions by the U.S.

Germany's energy network regulator on Friday said it would ensure ongoing operations at Gazprom Germania, a trading, storage and transmission business abandoned by Russia's Gazprom, and called on market operators not to cut ties, Reuters reported. With assets and subsidiaries in Germany, Britain, Switzerland, Belgium, the Czech Republic and outside Europe, the firm's activities are essential for the European gas market and its supply to industry and households.

The Russian central bank sharply cut its key rate to 17% on Friday and said future cuts were possible, as emergency steps had contained the risk to financial stability, brought deposits back to banks and helped limit the threat of inflation, it said, Reuters reported. Last month, the central bank kept its key interest rate at 20% following a massive emergency hike in February and said it would start buying OFZ government bonds, warning of an imminent spike in inflation and a looming economic contraction. Russia sent troops into Ukraine on Feb.

The derivatives market is flashing signals that the tit-for-tat between the U.S. Treasury and the Kremlin is increasing the likelihood of a Russian government default after Russia’s Ministry of Finance announced Wednesday it will restrict the ability of some foreign investors to convert their payments into dollars, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The fallout of the Russia and Ukraine war has just helped tip two of world's poorest countries into full-blown crises, and the list of those at risk - and the queue at the International Monetary Fund's door - will only get longer from here, Reuters reported. They may be far from the fighting in Ukraine, but a mass resignation of Sri Lanka's cabinet on Monday read more and drastic weekend manoeuvres by Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan to avoid his removal read more , show how far the economic impact spreads.