The role of rating agencies in international financial market

In the context of financial markets globalization, the role of rating agencies and credit ratings expanded sharply. Standard & Poor's awarded in the late 70’s ratings only for 12 countries and currently it assigned ratings for 129 countries. Global rating agencies Standard & Poor's, Moody’s and Fitch publish long term sovereign ratings and short term sovereign ratings. The role of sovereign ratings is the decrease of informational asymmetry between borrowers (countries) – acting as issuers and lenders – acting as investors. In this paper I will analyse sovereign rating definition and I will explain the importance of rating agencies.