Euromoney Country Risk showcases the opinions of two leading South African sovereign risk experts as violence and carnage sweep the mining industry.

High unemployment and banks' challenges have triggered a fall in Denmark's sovereign risk profile.

A combination of strong domestic consumption, a boost in government expenditure and higher rates of investment in the manufacturing sector – after last year’s severe flooding – has led to Thailand’s economy growing by a rate of 4.2% for the second quarter of 2012.

Despite dollarization, Zimbabwe's economy and political system are in funk.

Australia’s superior credit ratings of Aaa compared to New Zealand’s Aa, according to both Fitch and S&P, is justified based on the latest assessments made by ECR’s contributors - but Moody's makes no distinction between them, rating both sovereigns Aaa.

Slovenia’s banks are suffering from weak capital buffers and rising non-performing loans, according to Euromoney Country Risk.

Angola's long term improvement in risk terms is continuing, as its ECR score tops that of Nigeria's.

Economic risk increases as official statistics reveal higher than expected borrowing in July

Namibia remains the third-safest sovereign in sub-Saharan Africa, behind South Africa and Botswana, ranked 51 and 57 respectively, on Euromoney’s Country Risk Rankings.

Belarus’s country risk score has stabilized during the past six months but the country still languishes at the foot of ECR’s global and CEE rankings.

Asian country risk is increasing less than other parts of the world, as investors remain gripped by the eurozone crisis. However, divergent risk patterns are becoming evident across the region, according to Euromoney’s latest Country risk survey results.

In spite of the sovereign's successful return to the capital markets in late-July, confidence in Ireland (rated BBB+ by Fitch and S&P, but Ba1 negative by Moody’s) has continued to slip as the eurozone crisis deepens.

Growing confidence in Indonesia has led the sovereign to move fractionally above plunging India in recent days, to 59th spot in ECR’s global rankings, on a score of 52.7.

South Korean economic risk has been boosted by a higher score for monetary policy and currency stability.

ECR experts have upgraded Peru’s risk outlook, reflecting its strong GDP growth rates and positive economic outlook.

Portugal has reached the bottom of the third tier on Euromoney Country Risk's rankings - and even that position looks precarious.