| gen. |
creditworthiness (The opinion of potential lenders about the safety of loans to any particular borrower. This is a matter of judgement; apart from some governments, the only people to whom it would be perfectly safe to lend do not need to borrow. The profits of firms are liable to variation through bad luck, bad management, or fraud; the incomes of individuals are liable to variation through unemployment, poor health, or folly. Credit-rating institutions exist to assess the creditworthiness of firms, banks, and foreign governments; their assessments affect the willingness of banks and other credit institutions to make loans. These assessments, however much expertise goes into forming them, are still only opinions and may prove to be wrong. OE Alexander Demidov) |
