FX.co ★ China and Russia agree to found a joint rating agency

A new rating agency can appear on the international scene very soon. The Russian and Chinese authorities unveiled plans to establish the largest joint rating agency. Both governments ordered to develop the structure of a rating agency which first of all will evaluate perspectives of joint Russian-Chinese projects. The parties said such an organization is necessary to give a fair estimate of the cooperation between Russia and China. Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has said the new agency will rely on economic aspects only. “In the beginning, the agency will assess Russian-Chinese investment projects with a view to attracting of investors from a number of Asian countries. Gradually, based on the progress and authority of such an agency, we believe it will rise to a level where its opinions will attract other countries”, Anton Siluanov stated. A few months ago, Igor Shuvalov, Russia’s deputy prime minister, suggested a national credit rating agency. The official emphasized that such a step is a critical measure in the current situation. Also, he said that Russia’s sovereign rating is threatened to be lowered due to political pressure on the world rating institutions from foreign governments. However, despite the government officials involvement in the process, the majority of the meeting participants expressed the opinion that rating agencies should be set up with no help of governments. Earlier in October 2012, the Chinese rating agency Dagong announced it was going to set up a joint venture with its US and Russian partners to create an independent global rating group as the company said that the Western agencies proved to be unfair when assessing developing economies.