Greece now second-riskiest world sovereign

LONDON – A deterioration of Greece’s debt in the second quarter of this year helped it become the world’s second-riskiest sovereign in a survey by credit default monitor CMA DataVision published yesterday.

Greek government bonds slipped from ninth position in the survey in the first quarter of the year, CMA said.The country’s credit default swap (CDS), a gauge of the cost of insuring state debt against default within five years, mushroomed to 1 003,4 basis points in the second quarter. That translates into a 55,6 per cent risk of default.But Venezuela, on a CDS of 1 305,7 bps and 27 per cent upfront fee, remained the riskiest sovereign credit with a default risk of 58,7 per cent.Iceland and Egypt exited the top-ten riskiest sovereigns league, while Romania and Bulgaria whose banks are heavily exposed to Greece, were dragged into the top ten at positions eight and ten respectively. Among the world’s safest sovereigns first and second places remained occupied by Norway and Finland, followed by an improvement in the credit of the United States at third place, from tenth in the previous quarter.But the euro zone’s safest haven bonds, German Bunds, and The Netherlands, slipped in the rankings. Germany was sixth safest compared with third-safest in the first quarter, while Dutch debt was eighth, slipping from sixth.The worst performing sovereigns in the quarter ended June were Greece, whose percentage rise in CDS was 190 per cent, followed by Belgium, whose CDS rose 168,5 per cent.Spain’s CDS was third worst-performing with a 129,2 per cent jump, Portugal fourth, with a 127,3 per cent rise, and France fifth with a 112,3 per cent gain in cost of debt protection. – Nampa-Reuters

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.

The Namibian uses AI tools to assist with improved quality, accuracy and efficiency, while maintaining editorial oversight and journalistic integrity.