International Financial Markets and Moscow

Russian companies: U.S. and EU sanctions imposed last year on Moscow for its role in the Ukraine crisis have closed off Russian companies' access to international financial markets, leaving them with a total of $109 billion in debt payments coming due this year and little chance of refinancing the loans, the Reuters news agency reported, citing Central Bank data, according to The Moscow Times. Capital flight from Russia soared to an all-time high of $151.5 billion last year, nearly triple the outflow seen in 2013, according to Central Bank data. The ministry base forecast anticipates that U.S. and EU sanctions over Moscow actions in Ukraine will remain in place through the end of 2018. "This means that Russian companies' access to world capital markets will remain limited and there will be quite a high level of capital outflow from the private sector due to debt repayments," the report said. The torrential outflow of cash was driven by debt repayments and a severe fall in investor confidence amid Western sanctions and a steep drop in the price of oil, Russia chief export. Net capital outflow stood at $32.6 billion in the first three months of the year, down from $72.9 billion in the previous quarter, according to Central Bank data. However, panic over the state of Russia economy seems to have cooled this year as oil prices rise and a shaky truce between Kiev and Moscow-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine continues to hold. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.