Published by Osasere Edomwonyi Ikpoba
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has formally welcomed the African Union's announcement that the African Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) will officially launch on October 7, 2026, in Port Louis, Mauritius, describing the development as another important step towards building financial institutions that better understand African economies and risks.
Tinubu, who had previously advocated for an Africa-owned credit rating agency in a February 2026 opinion article published by the Financial Times and reiterated the call at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, in May, made his position known in a statement posted on his official X account on Thursday. The President stressed that Africa was not seeking preferential treatment but fairer evaluations grounded in the economic fundamentals and reforms actually being carried out across the continent.
The African Credit Rating Agency is expected to provide context-driven credit opinions on sovereign and corporate entities, offering an alternative to ratings by the dominant global agencies—Fitch Ratings, Moody's, and S&P Global Ratings. African governments have increasingly criticised these international agencies for what they consider excessive risk assessments, which they argue have contributed to higher borrowing costs and an unfair premium on capital raised in international markets.
At the heart of Tinubu's advocacy is the concept of the "Africa premium"—the gap between how African economies are assessed by international credit rating agencies and their underlying economic realities. The President cited a 2023 United Nations Development Programme report which estimated that shortcomings in credit ratings cost Africa approximately $75 billion annually in excess interest and foregone lending. He argued that African countries with commodity-dependent economies were particularly vulnerable to downgrades during global market downturns, even when their reserves, fiscal buffers, and debt profiles remained manageable. Tinubu also cited Nigeria's own experience, arguing that improvements in economic data, fiscal transparency, and reforms had contributed to recent upgrades by international rating agencies.
The President criticised the dominance of Fitch, Moody's, and S&P Global Ratings in determining Africa's access to international capital, arguing that their assessments sometimes failed to adequately capture local economic conditions. He contended that an African credit rating agency could address what he described as a major weakness of the global agencies—limited on-the-ground knowledge of African economies.
The launch of AfCRA was initially scheduled for September 2025 but was postponed by a year. Concerns over international credit ratings have intensified in recent years, with Ghana and Zambia among countries that have argued that rating downgrades worsened their debt challenges. The African Peer Review Mechanism also recently criticised Fitch's downgrade of the African Export-Import Bank, saying the rating agency had failed to adequately assess the bank's fundamentals.
However, Tinubu was careful to note that the launch of AfCRA should not be viewed as a replacement for the established global agencies. In his Thursday statement, he stressed that the agency would have to earn the confidence of international investors through independence and rigorous assessments. "AfCRA must now earn the confidence of global capital. That confidence will rest on its independence and the rigour of its work," Tinubu said. He expressed optimism about the official launch, adding simply: "I look forward to October 7".
To safeguard its independence, AfCRA will not be owned by African governments and is expected to focus mainly on ratings of local-currency debt. The agency is headquartered in Port Louis, Mauritius, where the African Union will conduct the official launch ceremony. Kenya's President William Ruto, who unveiled the agency at an AU event in Addis Ababa in February 2025, had previously stated: "Global credit rating agencies have not only dealt us a bad hand, they have also deliberately failed Africa".
Tinubu's consistent advocacy for an African-led credit rating agency reflects a broader push by the continent's leaders to assert greater control over how African economies are perceived and priced in global financial markets. By challenging the dominance of the "Big Three" rating agencies, the President has positioned Nigeria at the forefront of a continental effort to dismantle what he and other African leaders view as an unjustified premium on African risk. As the October 7 launch date approaches, the success of AfCRA will ultimately depend on whether it can deliver on its promise of independence, rigour, and credibility in the eyes of global capital.
📩 Stone Reporters News | 🌍 stonereportersnews.com
✉️ info@stonereportersnews.com | 📘 Facebook: Stone Reporters News | 🐦 X (Twitter): @StoneReportNew | 📸 Instagram: @stonereportersnews
Add comment
Comments