Moldova is the fifth in the world in terms of The Banker’s 2009 World Financial Health Index.

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Moldova is the fifth in the world in terms of The Banker’s 2009 World Financial Health Index.

According to The Banker, Moldova has very low levels of debt (736 USD per capita, compared with the UK’s 171 000 USD per capita), and its banks have high capital-to-asset ratios of more than 17% and low levels of lending.

According to the publication, banks in Moldova have extended loans worth just 35% of GDP, compared with the US, where domestic bank lending has reached 230% of GDP. Moldova pays just 2.8% of public sector revenues to service government debt, but Italy, for example, spends 11.9% of government revenues on interest payments.

The analysis conducted by The Banker notes that the financial crisis of 2008 turned the world on its head, and changed the risks. In this new world, the world’s most developed economies – and those most dependent on credti – have suddenly become the ones most exposed to potential disaster, the authors of the investigation state.

The Banker’s 2009 World Financial Health Index rates 184 countries based on 25 financial and economic health indicators. According to The Banker’s new financial risk model, Moldova, Chile, Bolivia and Peru are less likely to be affected by the current financial crisis than US, UK or Japan.

The analysis shows that these countries may be poorer, but with a far lower reliance on credit, they are more insulated from financial meltdown than any developed country. The ranking shows that, as a result, developing countries are now less highly leveraged relative to their wealth than rich countries and so less likely to suffer the consequences of a deep financial crisis.

The Banker’s 2009 World Financial Health Index rates countries’ ability to weather the current financial and economic crisis.