MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Top marks for Chilean economy and prospects.

The Chilean government celebrated this week an all time record low country risk, confirming the positive international assessment of the Chilean economy and its positioning as the safest country to invest in South America.

According to US Investment bank JPMorgan Chile's sovereign country risk now stands at 59 basic points over the United States Treasury bond which is taken as world reference. The Ten Years US Treasury Bond now stands at 4,08%.

The lower the sovereign country risk, the easier access to money markets and lower interest rates a country and that country's companies must pay.

JPMorgan also indicated that five Chilean sovereign bonds actually have lower spreads than the basic 59 points: 2008 Bond, 36,36 bp; 2007 Bond 36,41 bp; 2009 Bond 40,21 bp; 2012 Bond 54,02 bp and 2013 Bond, 57,93 bp.

The second safest country is Mexico with a basic spread of 159 points; Peru follows with 240 bp; Colombia has 359 bp; Uruguay figures with 382 bp; Brazil with 405 bp; Venezuela 459 bp, while Argentina which is still in default has the highest sovereign risk, 4.925 basic points.

"This is great news for Chile and Chileans: We have the lowest country risk in history" said Patricio Santamaría the Chilean Executive Secretary General. "This anticipates a great year ahead because it means greater opportunities for business and investors", added Mr. Santamaría who nevertheless admitted that Chile still faces serious wealth distribution and employment challenges.

Another US risk agency, Moodys's among the three most prestigious in world financing, also praised the Chilean situation and upped the country's debt prospects in the coming 18 months from "stable" to "positive". According to Moody's Chile's bonds are now rated Baa1, which is the eighth position in a scale of 21. This basically means Chile is in excellent conditions to honour its international debt.

But the agency pointed out that Chile must lower its foreign debt mainly private which is far higher than is countries with similar ratings.

Moody's also stated that Chile's solid financial standing is based on good political management, solid financial institutions, ample structural reforms, economic policies which ensure stable growth and a manageable current account deficit.

Chile's sovereign debt ratio to GDP dropped from 13,3% in 2003 to 11% in 2004.