Fitch Ratings downgraded Qatar’s credit rating on Monday by one notch to AA- with a negative outlook, citing the negative impact of the “Arab Quartet” blockade. Qatar may need to accelerate cuts to spending to offset against oil prices and any further damage to the blockade, Fitch said in a statement. “The move brings Fitch’s rating in line with Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s.

This comes as Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is in Kuwait at the start of a three-nation tour of GCC states over the ongoing rift, the Associated Press reports.

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