Fitch Ratings announced on November 10 that it was downgrading the sovereign credit rating of 4 Eastern Europe economies, citing the global financial crisis.

Fitch released the latest sovereign credit rating results for 17 emerging economies. Bulgaria, Hungary, Kazakhstan and Romania were downgraded; the ratings outlooks for Russia, South Korea, Mexico, Chile, Malaysia and South Africa were downgraded; ratings for the remaining 7 economies including China were unchanged.

David Riley, head of the Global Sovereign Ratings Group at Fitch, said in a press release: "The profound shift in the global economic and financial outlook pose significant real economy and policy challenges for emerging markets. […] the risks of economic and financial stress that could undermine sovereign creditworthiness have risen and that is reflected in the prospective rating actions taken today."

For more details, please read the complete story in Chinese:

(http://www.bbtnews.com.cn/news/channel/political59057.shtml)

(China.org.cn November 12, 2008)