LONDON, Oct. 24 – Expressing a lack of confidence that Ukraine’s political leaders will form a consensus over economic policies, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has lowered its long-term foreign currency sovereign credit ratings on Ukraine to 'B' from 'B+', and its local currency ratings to 'B+' from 'BB-.’

The 'uaAA' national scale rating was also lowered to 'uaA+'.

The outlook is negative.

The 'B' short-term ratings were affirmed, and the recovery rating on Ukraine's foreign currency debt remains '4'.