The global credit crisis is at its end, according to international credit agency Coface. The organisation’s 14th Country Risk Conference this week saw 20 upgrades to country ratings, indicating improvement in the commercial credit sector.
A release by the agency stated: “Since the second half of 2009, Coface has recorded a net reduction in payment defaults. Payment defaults, still up 19 percent in the first half of 2009, declined 40 percent in the second half.”
However, the upgrades came with a warning about bubbles, particularly overcapacity in China, public debt and asset price bubbles brought on by the stockmarket, leaving the organisation to foresee “a very soft recovery in developed countries”, although “the dynamism of emerging countries rebalances world growth”.
Coface has eased the rating outlooks for all industrialised countries except the UK, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain, which remain rated A3, some still under a negative watch.
