LONDON (Reuters) – Sanctions imposed on Russia have significantly increased the likelihood that the country defaults on its dollar- and other international market government debt, investment bank JPMorgan warned on Wednesday.
“The sanctioning of Russian government entities by the United States, counter-measures within Russia to restrict foreign payments, and disruptions of payment chains present high hurdles for Russia to make a bond payment abroad,” JPMorgan said in a note to clients.
Russia has over $700 million in payments coming due this month, mostly with a 30-day grace period. The next relevant coupon payment date is on March 16, JPMorgan calculated. It also has a 30-day grace period.
(Reporting by Marc Jones, editing by Karin Strohecker)
