S&P downgrades Azerbaijan´s sovereign debt to 'junk'

To back up its decision, S&P noted how the central-Asian country´s foreign exchange reserves had been run down by two-thirds since their mid-2014 peak.

"Oil prices have declined further over the last several months, and we now anticipate Azerbaijan's general government will run deficits through 2018," S&P said in a statement.

-- More to follow --