MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti) - Moody's Investors Service has placed Egypt's B2 government bond ratings on review for possible downgrade, the ratings agency reported on Friday.

Moody’s said the rating action was prompted by four factors, including the “re-emergence of unsettled political conditions” and “the heightened uncertainty surrounding the government's ability to secure financial support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).”

The other two factors were “the recent imposition of capital controls by the Central Bank of Egypt in order to limit foreign-currency cash withdrawals from the country's banks” and “the continued rise in the Egyptian government's already high fiscal financing costs.”

In late December 2012, another ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s, lowered its long-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings on Egypt to 'B-' from 'B'. The outlook was negative.