Moody's downgrades Petrobras ratings

Moody's Investors Service released a noted announcing the downgrade of all of Petrobras's ratings, among which the unsecured debt, which went from  Baa2 to Baa3. The agency says the change comes as a result of the investigations into the state-run oil giant.

The note refers to Petrobras's Q3 balance sheet, whose publication has been postponed twice and which does not show any losses arising from the money embezzlement scheme investigated as part of Operation Car Wash, launched by the Federal Police. The sheet has not been analyzed by the auditing company in charge.

For Moody's, both the corruption probes and the problems in compiling the balance sheet may “lead to significant liquidity pressures.”.

“Petrobras failed to provide any clarity about the magnitude of these adjustments. The lack of progress in disclosing approximate adjustment amounts is not an encouraging sign for the timely release of audited year-end financial statements,” the note read.

The agency announced that the ratings are still “on review for further cuts”. Petrobras released a statement to its investors saying that the risk has been revised, and that its ratings are still under analysis.

The company's board of directors further highlighted that it has maintained its investment degree (low default risk), in spite of the debt downgrade to Baa3.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira