How the credit ratings agencies compared countries before Spain and Greece's re-rating. Click image for full graphic Illustration: Finbarr Sheehy

The fate of Greece's economy has meant that the role of the credit ratings agencies is being examined afresh. There have been fears over Spain for a while now: the Spanish public deficit was one of the highest in the euro area last year, at 11.4% of GDP. The government has pledged to reduce the deficit to 3% by 2013 and is due to announce a fresh round of cost savings later today.

So, who are the ratings agencies? The big three agencies are Fitch, Moody's and Standard & Poors. What they do is assess how likely a borrower is to be able to repay its debts and help those trading debt contracts in the secondary market.

That means for those trading debt contracts such as treasury gilts after they've been issued, ratings agencies help assess a fair price to charge. Ratings agencies have been criticised for having too much clout in jittery markets during the financial crisis. They were widely attacked for failing to warn of the risks posed by certain securities, in particular mortgage-backed securities.

Losing your rating or being downgraded can have a fatal effect on your country's ability to borrow money on the markets.

Thanks to the three big agencies, we can bring you the ratings of countries around the world as of today. Because each agency's approach is slightly different, we've colour-coded them in three broad categories too.

Source: Guardian.co.uk