JUPITER, Florida (June 15, 2011) — Expanding on its sovereign debt ratings issued on the United States and other countries in April, Weiss Ratings has today initiated coverage of Singapore and India.
Singapore has received a rating of A (“Excellent”), reflecting low debt, international stability, long-term economic strength and strong global acceptance for its debt securities.
In contrast, India is rated C- (“Fair”) reflecting both the macroeconomic and debt challenges it faces as the economy grows but also the increasing stability and global market acceptance.
The rating assigned to the United States remains unchanged at C (“Fair”).
Overall, Weiss has issued sovereign debt ratings on 49 countries on a scale that ranges from A (“Excellent”) to E (“Very Weak”).
Martin D. Weiss, president of Weiss Ratings, commented: “On our ratings scale, only sovereign countries with stellar scores in four major areas — debt burden, international stability, economic health and market acceptance — merit a grade of A- or better. Meanwhile, on the low end of the scale, only countries that demonstrate severe and/or consistent weaknesses in those four areas receive a grade of D+ or lower. The United States falls into neither category.”
“Bear in mind that we deliberately exclude political and cultural considerations from our analysis. We look strictly at objective financial and economic measures, and these are telling us that Singapore’s credit is far stronger than that of the United States, while India’s is one notch weaker.”
For more information on the Weiss Ratings approach, refer to our white paper, “Introducing The Weiss Sovereign Debt Ratings.”
About Weiss Ratings
Weiss Ratings, the nation’s leading independent provider of bank, credit union and insurance company financial strength ratings and sovereign debt ratings, accepts no payments for its ratings from rated institutions. It also distributes independent investment ratings on the shares of thousands of publicly traded companies, mutual funds, closed-end funds and ETFs.
