National debts from safest to most risky

folarin okunola

August 14, 2015 2:57 PM

Venezuela has the highest risk as far as its debt is concerned, costing twice as much as Greek or Ukrainian debt to insure.

The CDS showing the countries whose debt is riskiest to insure

Bank of America's Transforming World Atlas has plenty of lovely infographics in it, but one of the most colourful is a map of the countries with riskiest sovereign debt in the world.

The map uses the prices of credit default swaps, which are derived from payments if a borrower defaults on its debt.

Sovereign credit default swaps have been used as a type of insurance against sovereign governments that may not back the money they owe. Like any insurance product, the more expensive it is the more likely the event you're insuring against will happen within a short period of time.

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Venezuela has the highest risk as far as its debt is concerned, costing twice as much as Greek or Ukrainian debt to insure.

The graphic also shows just how far Spain and Ireland have come since they were faced with trying times in the past few years.

According to the market their debt is basically risk free, with lower CDS spreads than Italy or Portugal. The Spanish economy is gaining ground again after suffering a devastating housing crash and unemployment crisis.

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