Country risk for traders
Travel advisories, sanctions exposure and IMF inflation for the 31 countries that move commodity, currency and equity markets most when geopolitics flares up. Sorted by US travel advisory level, then by the number of OFAC sanctions entries.
| Country | US travel advisory | OFAC entries | Inflation (IMF) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iran | Do not travel | 1,710 | 78.6% |
| Lebanon | Do not travel | 361 | 14.6% |
| Syria | Do not travel | 300 | – |
| Iraq | Do not travel | 173 | – |
| Yemen | Do not travel | 138 | 5% |
| United Arab Emirates | Reconsider travel | 768 | 4.5% |
| Saudi Arabia | Reconsider travel | 23 | 1.9% |
| Qatar | Reconsider travel | 19 | 3.6% |
| Israel | Reconsider travel | 16 | 1.8% |
| China | Exercise increased caution | 1,411 | 1% |
| France | Exercise increased caution | 48 | 2.4% |
| Russia | – | 5,951 | 6.1% |
| Mexico | – | 1,228 | 3.8% |
| Turkey | – | 390 | 31.2% |
| Venezuela | – | 254 | 467.9% |
| Ukraine | – | 250 | 8.9% |
| North Korea | – | 233 | – |
| India | – | 195 | 5% |
| Myanmar | – | 189 | 20% |
| United Kingdom | – | 186 | 3.3% |
| Pakistan | – | 171 | 7.1% |
| Germany | – | 131 | 2.7% |
| Cuba | – | 127 | – |
| Afghanistan | – | 80 | 3.6% |
| United States | – | 76 | 3.6% |
| Taiwan | – | 34 | 2% |
| Brazil | – | 30 | 4.4% |
| Egypt | – | 27 | 13.3% |
| Japan | – | 22 | 2% |
| Poland | – | 13 | 3.2% |
| South Korea | – | 5 | 2.7% |
How to read this table
The US State Department rates every country from Level 1, exercise normal precautions, to Level 4, do not travel. OFAC entries count the people, companies, ships and aircraft on the US Treasury's sanctions lists that are linked to each country, a rough gauge of how exposed its trade and finance are to sanctions. Inflation is the IMF World Economic Outlook figure for the latest year, which for the current year is an estimate. Each country page adds the markets that react to its news and the shipping chokepoints it depends on.