On April 17, 2015, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'CCC-' long-term issuer credit and 'uaCCC-' Ukraine national scale ratings on the city of Dnipropetrovsk.

The outlook is negative, S&P said.

According to S&P, the affirmation reflects the rating agency's view that, despite the downgrade of Ukraine on April 10, 2015, Dnipropetrovsk has no debt.

The rating agency lowered Dnipropetrovsk's stand-alone credit profile (SACP) to 'ccc-' from 'b' because it applied a 100% haircut to its cash reserves, which are held on the central government treasury account. S&P says it considers Ukraine virtually certain to default, which would cause access to cash at the central government treasury to be restricted. S&P's issuer credit rating on Dnipropetrovsk is therefore equal to its SACP.

The ratings on Dnipropetrovsk incorporate Ukraine's very volatile and underfunded institutional framework, which causes the rating agency to view the city's budgetary flexibility as very weak. S&P also factors in its view of Dnipropetrovsk's weak financial management, very high (even below the benchmark) contingent liabilities related to municipal utilities, very weak economy, and weak liquidity. These constraints are mitigated by the city's very low debt burden and average budgetary performance.

The central government's almost full control over the city's revenues and expenditures, and what the rating agency considers as Ukraine's very volatile and underfunded system of public finance materially reduce Dnipropetrovsk's budgetary flexibility.