Figures updated · Text reviewed · By the Riftrate team · How the index is built
The four exposures to map
- Supply chain: where your critical suppliers, ports and routes are. Wars and attacks on shipping, such as the Red Sea crisis, lengthen delays and raise freight costs.
- Sanctions and trade measures: tariffs, export controls and embargoes can change costs overnight. The library lists the major ones since 2018 with what currencies did.
- People: staff travelling or living in a country. Official travel advice from your government remains the reference.
- Currencies and prices: elections and political crises move exchange rates, which change the cost of imports and the value of foreign revenue. See how elections move currencies.
A simple monitoring routine
- List the countries that matter to you and bookmark their country pages.
- Once a day, read the daily brief: the global number, the top stories and the countries where tension is rising.
- When a country you depend on moves “above its usual level” for several days, review stocks, alternative suppliers, insurance and travel plans.
- Before an election or a sanctions deadline in a key market, check the library for what happened at similar events.
What Riftrate is, and is not
Riftrate is a free, transparent measure built from public data: the GDELT event database, the Geopolitical Risk Index of Caldara and Iacoviello and public market data. It is not a consultancy rating, an insurance score or a forecast, and it should be one input among others, alongside official advice and specialised providers.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between country risk and geopolitical risk?
Country risk usually covers the economic and political stability of one country, including payment and transfer risk. Geopolitical risk is about tension between states and armed conflict, which can affect many countries at once.
Can I get alerts for a specific country?
Not yet. Today you can follow the daily brief and the country pages; alerts by country are planned.
Can I use Riftrate data in internal reports?
Yes, with attribution. See the data page for downloads and the citation.