Sovereign debt credit ratings

April 28, 2010Jon Brooks Comments Off

The Greek and European debt crisis has thrown a spotlight on the credit ratings of entire nations. From the blog Credit Writedowns, here’s a list of all S&P sovereign credit ratings, from AAA to junk.

These ratings will in large part determine the rate of interest countries pay to investors who loan them money via purchase of bonds. The lower the rating, the higher the risk the rating agency has determined the country is, and the higher the interest rate that nation will have to pay to attract investors to buy its bonds.

On the other hand, considering the role that the ratings agencies played in the sub-prime real estate implosion, someone may want to rate the raters…

Some selected countries and their ratings. What is striking is the number of “negative” outlooks…

Country

 

Debt Rating

Outlook
United States

 

AAA

Stable
Canada

 

AAA

Stable
United Kingdom

 

AAA

Negative
Spain

 

AA+

Negative
Ireland

 

AA

Negative
Japan

 

AA

Negative
China

 

A+

Stable
Israel

 

A

Stable
South Africa

 

BBB+

Negative
Russia

 

BBB

Stable
Brazil

 

BBB-

Stable
Iceland

 

BBB-

Negative
India

 

BBB-

Stable
India

 

BBB-

Stable
Greece

 

BB+

Negative
Vietnam

 

BB

Negative
Philippines

 

BB-

Stable
Venezuela

 

BB-

Stable
Dominican Republic

 

B

Stable
Pakistan

 

B-

Stable
Iceland

 

BBB-

Negative
Ecuador

 

CCC+

Stable

Comments are closed.