Downgrades to the credit worthiness of governments and corporates accounted for 93% of global rating changes in the first three months of the year, the highest quarterly figure recorded by Standard & Poor’s, highlighting the scale of the worldwide debt burden compared with previous recessions.

The previous record of 91% was set in the fourth quarter of last year. The latest percentage figure outstrips the 86% of all downgrades that governments and corporates accounted for during the recession of 1991, and also the 89% in 2001.