Standard & Poors: Russia Is Good For Investments

Standard & Poor's Rating Services ranked Russian bonds as "investment grade", from their former "speculative" rating due to soaring oil sales and a budget surplus.

The world's leading credit rating agencies says that the solidity of government finances outweighed the risk.

Russia is now a net creditor rather than a debtor, says S&P. Gold and foreign currency reserves of $119bn beat its foreign public debt of some $113bn.

The other two major ratings agencies - Fitch and Moody's have long since upped their rating of Russia's sovereign debt.

However, the agency made it clear that the improved rating did not mean that the risks were a thing of the past ? given Russian government?s habit to squeeze money from energy companies, S&P said the government's own debt is looking a good bet.