Finland Times

The economic situation of Finland stood at fifth among the world´s top 48 nations from the aspect of debt solvency, said the last quarterly  report of  the world largest fund manager BlackRock.

The report released on January 15 said that Norway is the first in the list while another European country Greece is in the worst situation from the debt solvency aspect.

Drawing on a pool of financial data, surveys and political insights, the BlackRock Sovereign Risk Index (BSRI) provides investors with a framework for tracking sovereign credit risk. The index uses more than 30 quantitative measures, complemented by qualitative insights from third-party sources.

The index breaks down the data into four main categories that each count toward a country’s final BSRI score and ranking, fiscal Space, willingness to pay, external finance position and financial sector health.

Singapore got second place in the index while Switzerland and Sweden were in third and fourth position respectively, said the report.

According to the report, Japan was in 35^th position after falling two spots in the rankings as a result of its sharply deteriorating fiscal balance while the United States remained at 15th place even as it teetered on the edge of the “fiscal cliff” of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts.

China got 16^th place in the index while Australia and New Zealand moved up in the rankings with 7^th and 11^th places respectively.

The South Africa dropped two notches to 36th place.