POLITICAL RISK - Ratings Downgrade

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Our short-term political risk rating for Georgia has fallen from 56.5 to 51.5 due to the public unrest following the January 5 presidential election, where incumbent President Mikhail Saakashvili was re-elected for a second-term securing 52.8% of the vote, compared with the 27% secured by his nearest contender. We expect that political tensions will continue to remain until the parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held in either April or May 2008, thus negatively impacting on our ratings.