Two of the earliest victims of the sovereign debt crisis that hit Europe in 2009 are ahead of the pack again – but this time they are leading the way by re-establishing themselves as economic success stories. Euromoney Country Risk’s survey charts the risers and fallers.

The island state has returned to growth earlier than expected in spite of its trade and banking-sector exposures to Greece, after the banking crisis caused a severe macro-economic adjustment.

Far from stabilizing, the sovereign’s economic imbalances and political uncertainties are behind another round of downgrades.

Abenomics had been designed to rescue Japan from its awful deflationary torpor, but the economy is struggling again and its troubles could become a lot worse if China buckles.

The Indian Ocean island seems to have turned the corner and is pushing higher in Euromoney’s country risk survey rankings.

The world’s northernmost borrower is beginning to look like a decent credit again, thanks to stronger financial safeguards and a plan to remove capital controls cementing a recovery now delivering impressive macro-fundamentals.

Only time will tell if snapping up Ukrainian bonds before its creditor negotiations are complete is fortuitous or foolhardy, but what cannot be denied are the enormous risks involved.

Latin America’s largest market and one of its hottest investment prospects only a few years ago is now rocking from a confluence of negative factors undermining creditworthiness.

The glowing appeal of this frontier market is overshadowed by an array of problems, notably stemming from the junta’s resistance to democratic reform.

Euromoney’s crowd-sourcing, survey-based approach to evaluating country risk successfully predicted a similar path for the Philippines two years ago. In addition to these two European borrowers, however, there are a handful of others with longer-term prospects for investors to keep an eye on.

The sovereign is still struggling in Euromoney’s risk survey as economic and fiscal indicators deteriorate, corruption investigations dampen China-sourced foreign investment and a looming general election makes it uncertain whether the new president’s parliamentary backers can produce a majority.

The results of the latest Euromoney Country Risk quarterly survey saw Mexico’s risk score fall 1.49 points. With a score of 60.82, the country now sits at 37th in the global ECR rankings. ECR asked two experts for their opinions on the reasons behind the decline.

Fitch and Moody’s altered the outlooks on their BB-/Ba3 ratings from negative to stable in recent months, but experts taking part in Euromoney’s country risk survey are still to be persuaded.

Data from Euromoney’s survey of country risk suggests economists are increasingly optimistic about the Hungarian economy.

The sovereign has become comparatively safer in Euromoney’s country risk survey as its CIS neighbours find it hard to escape the blow-back from Russia’s meltdown and currency devaluations prompted by the new oil metrics.

The sovereign is one to watch in 2015, and not just because of the eurozone recovery, or conversely its vulnerability to Greece.

Investors opting for the Caribbean region and its various bond offerings as economic growth recovers should beware of the risks involved. For many countries these can still be quite extreme.

Euromoney’s risk experts weigh up the various options as the ‘end-game’ nears.

The Andean nation was riskier than Brazil not so long ago, but has risen through the LatAm rankings and might soon become the second-safest credit in the region behind Chile.

The Brics sovereign is still worrying the risk experts – and its downgrades seem likely to continue.

Emerging markets (EMs) with fiscal and external imbalances, vulnerable to capital outflows – including oil and other commodity producers struggling to balance their budgets – are among the 72 sovereigns downgraded since the end of 2014 by more than 440 economists and other country-risk experts.

A downgraded outlook from rating agency Fitch highlighting the sovereign’s economic difficulties was predicted by its country-risk score trend. Moody’s is lagging behind, but might respond when it reviews the sovereign in June.

A return to the international capital markets in April is whetting the appetite of yield-hungry investors eager to snap up the $1.5 billion Eurobond likely to herald the first in a series of market offerings. But are the sovereign borrower’s risks being ignored?

The credit implications of resolving failed lender Hypo Group Alpe Adria (HGAA) are not what they seem. The upshot is Austria is not about to suffer the same fate as Cyprus, Iceland or Ireland.

Risk experts have become increasingly concerned about prospects for the majority of African sovereign borrowers that are considering issuance in 2015. Will investors demand a premium?

The majority of Central and Eastern European sovereigns have been upgraded by Euromoney's country risk survey since the third quarter of 2014. Hungary is still irking the experts with its heightened political risks, but elsewhere there are still reasons to be cheerful about the region’s prospects.

The sovereign’s risk score is sliding again, raising doubts over its safety.

The sovereign’s risk score has fallen in recent days as lower oil prices add to the Kingdom’s existing economic, political and structural weaknesses.

Russia’s and Venezuela’s plight was predicted by Euromoney’s country risk survey well before the market priced in their deteriorating creditworthiness. Other, similarly ranked oil-producing sovereigns could endure a similar fate.

Economists have been downgrading oil exporters’ risk scores in recent weeks, but there might be worse to come if spot prices and petro-currencies continue to fall.