"The credit crisis is now affecting two leading emerging market countries, Russia and China, which in years past had enjoyed comfortable macroeconomic and financial situations," said Coface head Francois David in a statement.

"But companies in these two countries are now experiencing strong vulnerabilities, already identified by Coface, that have been brutally accentuated by the current slowdown."

China's Coface rating is currently A3, with the agency foreseeing Chinese growth of 7.0 percent in 2009.

Russia, with a B rating from Coface, is predicted to have growth of 2.5 percent this year.

"The credit crisis ... appears to have taken on a new dimension in the fourth quarter as companies in countries that had previously put up resistance, such as Germany, are now affected," the Coface statement said.

The agency is projecting worldwide economic growth of 0.9 percent this year, with no let-up in the credit squeeze before 2010.

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