Aon Political Risks 2015: Oil Prices Pose Biggest Risk

From CNBC:

Low oil prices will compound political risks across emerging markets this year, according to a new report released Wednesday.

Aon's Political Risk Map for 2015 warns that countries including Russia, Iraq, Venezuela and Libya will face further political pressure in the months ahead.

"The fall in oil prices are having quite a dramatic impact on a lot of oil producing countries which don't have the strength of foreign reserves," Karl Hennessy, CEO, Aon Global Broking told CNBC via telephone ahead of the report's release.

"As they start to lose revenue, this puts pressure on countries and raises the potential for instability."

The annual study grades 163 countries for political risk based on factors like the probability of political interference, banking sector vulnerability, sovereign non-payment and quality of regulation.

Ukraine continues to rank amongst the world's riskiest states. Despite hopes for a successful ceasefire as a result of the Minsk 2 agreements, Aon's report warns a resolution over the disputed region of eastern Ukraine is unlikely in 2015....MORE

Here's Aon's press release and link to the map.