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Our sovereign rating criteria incorporate the factors that we believe affect a sovereign government's willingness and ability to service its financial obligations to nonofficial creditors on time and in full. The foundation of our sovereign credit analysis rests on five pillars (see chart).
As of Feb. 28, 2023, S&P Global Ratings rates 137 sovereign governments and has established transfer and convertibility (T&C) assessments for each country with a rated sovereign, as shown in the table below.
This document provides additional information and guidance related to the application of S&P Global Ratings' "Sovereign Rating Methodology" (the sovereign criteria), published Dec. 18, 2017. It is intended to be read and applied in conjunction with those criteria.
This guide: Helps explain what credit ratings are and are not, who uses them and how they may be useful to the capital markets. Provides an overview of different business models and methodologies used by different ratings agencies.
S&P Global Ratings calibrates its sovereign rating criteria based on the above observations and on its general framework for the idealized behavior of its credit ratings over time through economic cycles.
In this rating methodology, we explain our general approach to assessing credit risk for sovereigns globally, including the qualitative and quantitative factors that are likely to affect rating outcomes in this sector.
Standard & Poor's sovereign credit ratings reflect its opinions on the ability and willingness of sovereign governments to service their commercial financial obligations in full and on time.
