Development and Cooperation


	Contributions from the Column Studies and reports Ratings agencies Global Corruption Report Peace cannot be compelled "The principle of non-intervention still prevails in Africa" Afghanistan: no development without government and civil society Genetically modified food aid for Africa? Roads to combat hunger Can research advise politics? 03/2003		Ratings agencies Ratings agencies such as Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s that evaluate the creditworthiness of companies and countries have time and again been criticised for their judgments. Both the United Nations and the World Bank have accused them of procyclical behaviour in rating countries whose economic situation has been aggravated by, for example, the Asian crisis of 1997. Now the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the watchdog body that protects the interests of investors, has the agencies in its sights. They are accused of also having failed investors ahead of the spectacular company bankruptcies in the USA in recent years. For instance, only four days before the Enron energy corporation filed for bankruptcy protection the agencies were still rating it as a sound debtor. The SEC is to investigate to what extent conflicts of interest contributed to such misjudgements. For the agencies are paid by the companies whose creditworthiness they examine. (ell)