from Lebanon to Ghana and Sri Lanka, the countries involved – Corriere.it

Public finances are increasingly in difficulty even in emerging countries. According to the Fitch rating agency there have been 14 separate default events since 2020, in nine different sovereign countries, a sharp increase from 19 defaults in 13 different countries between 2000 and 2019. Fitch-rated sovereign debt in default are 5: Belarus, Lebanon, Ghana, Sri Lanka and Zambia.

In addition, Fitch rates eight sovereign debt at CCC+ or lower, and another nine at B-. The five-year average cumulative default rate between 1995 and 2021 for sovereign debt rated C to CCC+ according to Fitch was 40.6%. On the other hand, sovereign defaults in 2020-2022 took longer than average to resolve, although they constitute a small sample. The median duration of defaults for Fitch-rated sovereign debt since 2020 is 107 days (including five outstanding days) compared to 35 days for all defaults since 2000.