Fitch Ratings

As if political turmoil, commodity-price meltdown and growth hiccups aren't enough, emerging markets face a threat to their creditworthiness from an entirely different area, - the burgeoning debt of households and companies.

Private-sector borrowing as a proportion of gross domestic product will reach 77 per cent by the end of this year in seven large developing nations, Fitch Ratings said in a report Wednesday. Such liabilities have exceeded government debt levels, exposing their economies and financial systems to "downside risks," analysts Ed Parker and James McCormack said.