July 5, 2022

{International: Al Furat News} It seems that the list of countries that are close to defaulting on their debts is rising in light of rising global inflation pressures, coinciding with the repercussions of the war between Russia and Ukraine, and the number of those countries may reach 17 countries.

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According to a report issued by the Fitch Ratings Agency, the international rating agency warned that the list of defaulters or defaulters may expand to 17 countries out of a total of 100 countries that Fitch would like to cover their economic conditions.

That list included Arab countries in addition to Russia, which has already stumbled according to international rating agencies and fell into the so-called technical stumble in light of Western sanctions and the freezing of nearly 330 billion dollars of the assets of the Russian Central, coinciding with preventing Russian banks from dealing in foreign currencies.

Russia and Arab countries According to the Fitch report, the number of countries in the list of countries that are in default or whose bond yields in the financial markets indicate that this has happened is 17, which is a record level.

These countries are Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Lebanon, Tunisia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Tajikistan, El Salvador, Suriname, Ecuador, Belize, Argentina, Russia, Belarus and Venezuela. According to the credit rating agency, most of the governments covered by Fitch have either brought in subsidies or implemented tax cuts in an effort to mitigate the impact of rising inflation. But this had its cost.

High interest pressures Fitch Ratings has lowered its outlook for sovereign debt, due to concerns about rising global borrowing costs and the possibility of a new wave of defaults.

The international rating agency, which monitors more than 100 countries, said the war in Ukraine was fueling problems such as high inflation, trade turmoil and weak economies, which are now hurting sovereign credit conditions.

The head of the sovereign ratings unit at Fitch Agency, James McCormack, said that higher interest rates in light of the adoption of central banks to tighten monetary policy to counter inflation increases the costs of government debt service.

Rating Downgrade Regarding the future outlook of Fitch Ratings Agency, the institution has reduced its outlook for the sovereign debt sector from positive or improving to neutral.

The agency said in its report once again that the number of countries experiencing downgrades in their credit ratings increases this year with the increase in inflationary pressures, the increase in the number of government debts and the widening of the public budget deficits of countries.

While the moderate financial deterioration can be absorbed by the positive effects of inflation on government debt mechanisms, such effects depend on maintaining low interest rates, and this is no longer certain,” said the head of the sovereign ratings unit at Fitch.

James McCormack added that while commodity exporters will benefit from higher prices, those who have to import the bulk of energy or food will suffer. Russia

A few days ago, Russia fell into the trap of defaulting on debt for the first time in more than a quarter of a century, which Russian officials described as an artificial and unreal default, in light of the Russian authorities’ announcement of their intention to pay debt dues in dollars.

The credit rating agency, Fitch, downgraded Russia’s sovereign debt rating from “B” to “C”, in a decision that indicated that Moscow had defaulted on its debts.

This followed the example of major rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, where the long-term Russian sovereign debt was reduced to junk.

SOURCE: AlForat News