Russia

Foi rebaixada pela Fitch, os títulos do governo russo estão quase na classificação "junk".

Desse jeito, o BRIC vai ser rebaixado a BIC.

Outra coisa interessante: consegui ler a reportagem inteira sobre a Russia, coloquei abaixo no post. Antigamente, este site era inteiro bloqueado, reservado somente a assinantes. o site da Economist também está bem mais aberto. O site do NYTimes é todo free. Sinal dos novos tempos, jornal impresso é artigo decadente, e jornal on-line exclusivo para assinantes pode estar com os dias contados, imagine um jornal sem presença na internet.

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MOSCOW -- Russian authorities vowed to slash spending and shift bailouts to banks from industry as the country's growing economic troubles brought a new cut to its debt rating.

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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, right, seated beside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, is pushing to limit economic damage from plunging oil prices.

With the ruble under pressure, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov pledged to defend the currency. But he warned the next month will be "very difficult" as the central bank seeks to keep the ruble from breaching the floor it set for the currency last month.

Russia spent $200 billion -- more than a third of its reserves -- to slow the ruble's slide since August, and many analysts question whether the central bank will be able to prevent further declines.

Citing the rapid loss of reserves and surging capital outflows, Fitch Ratings on Wednesday cut Russia's credit rating by one notch to BBB -- two rankings above junk. In December, Standard & Poor's cut its rating -- the first such reduction for Russia in a decade.

Wall Street Journal