Chile receives highest national risk rating in five years

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NEW YORK.- After climbing 29 points, the national risk rating for Chile -measured as the spread paid on United States Treasury Bonds- reached its highest level according to the Emerging Markets Bond Index (EMBIG) released yesterday.

The index, which measures the market confidence in a given economy, reached 208 base points yesterday, registering a value that had not been observed since November 13th of 2002. With the new information, the index has accumulated an increase of 57 points since the end of 2007.

Within Latin America, Venezuela, Ecuador and Argentina are the nations with the highest levels of risk, while Chile, Mexico and Peru are among the nations rated most favourably.

Meanwhile, the national CDS (Credit Default Swap in five years) risk –which is used by the Ministry of Finance— was given its highest rating since 2004, which is the first year it was recorded. For Chile, the index reported a score of 82.7 points.