Methodology
In this month's extended analysis of country risk, Euromoney has assigned its own sovereign ratings on the basis of each country's overall score. These ratings are: α α α (total score 90.01-100), α α (80.01-90), α (70.01-80), β β β (60.01-70), β β (50.01-60), β (40.01-50), Δ Δ Δ(30.01-40), Δ Δ (20.01-30) and Δ (10.01-20). Countries which score below 10.01 are unrated (n/r).
The overall score is established using nine weighted categories which are calculated as follows: the highest score in each category receives the full mark for the weighting; the lowest receives zero. In between, figures are calculated according to the formula: final score = weighting / (maximum scoreminimum score) x (maximum scoreminimum score). The ranking shows the final scores after weighting.
The categories are:
* Economic data (25% weighting). Taken from the Euromoney's Global Economic Projections. Each country scores the average of evaluations for 1997 and 1998.
* Political risk (25%). Euromoney asked risk analysts, risk insurance brokers and bank credit officers to give each country a score between ten and zero. A score of ten indicates no risk of non-payment; zero indicates that there is no chance of payments being made.