S&P Global Ratings cuts Ukraine credit rating amid more 'protracted' war

S&P Global Ratings cut Ukraine’s rating by one notch amid a more protracted conflict than originally forecast when Russia invaded the nation in February. 

Ukraine’s foreign-currency rating was reduced to CCC+, on par with Argentina and Mozambique, and only five notches above default. It also assigned a negative outlook to the country as risks to the economy, external balances, public finances and financial stability stemming from the war might undermine the government’s ability to meet its debt obligations, S&P said in a statement. 

“The Ukraine government’s capacity to meet its foreign-currency commercial debt payments is contingent on the flow of donor support,” according to the statement published Friday. 

Moody’s Investors Service cut Ukraine’s credit rating a week ago to the third-lowest level, also citing risks around the nation’s debt sustainability amid a more drawn out conflict than expected. 

“People can read the headlines. People know the cost of the war,” said Hans Humes, the founding partner of New York-based hedge fund Greylock Capital Management in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “Anybody who wants to invest is looking for months and possibly a couple of years through a process of rebuilding.”