Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that it had affirmed its 'CCC+' long-term issuer credit ratings and 'uaBB' Ukraine national scale ratings on the Ukrainian City of Odesa on the basis of currently available data.

The agency has been informed about it at the press service of Standard & Poor's.

They informed: “We subsequently withdrew the ratings. The outlook was negative at the time of withdrawal.

We withdrew the ratings because we consider that we no longer receive sufficiently timely and adequate information from Odesa to further monitor our ratings on the city.

At the point of withdrawal, the ratings incorporated our base-case scenario, which reflected our opinion that the city's debt service would likely peak at up to 20% of operating revenues in 2012. They also reflected our view of the city's poor liquidity, and low financial flexibility and predictability as a result of a weak institutional framework.

The ratings were supported by what we saw as Odesa's position as an important economic and logistical centre in southern Ukraine.”