The African Union (AU) has officially unveiled the African Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA), an initiative approved by the AU in 2017, in a bid to tell “Africa’s own economic story.”
The agency was launched on Wednesday and broadcast live on X by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), an organ of the AU that coordinated the operationalisation of AfCRA.
Nairametrics previously reported that the launch event would take place in Port Louis, Mauritius, where the agency is headquartered.
AfCRA launches Africa’s economic voice
The President of Uganda and Chairperson of the APR Committee of Focal Points, President Yoweri Museveni, represented by Uganda’s Minister of State for Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Hon. Amos Lugoloobi, stressed that Africa does not lack economic potential but is faced with bottlenecks, including inadequate resource mobilisation and underdevelopment of human resources, among others.
He stressed that Africa needs adequate and affordable capital, adding that the continent continues to experience “high borrowing costs” from global partners, which, according to him, are influenced by global rating agencies.
He opined that Africa should not avoid scrutiny but needs accurate assessments and a proper understanding of the context in which African countries are developing.
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, stressed that AfCRA was created to objectively assess the risks facing African economies while remaining independent for the sake of its credibility.
The CEO of APRM, H.E. Ambassador Marie-Antoinette Rose Quatre, stated that the rating agency emerged from a perception of Africa that does not reflect the true size of the continent’s economy.
- She added that “Africa could no longer postpone the institutions required to tell its own economic story with rigour and credibility.”
According to her, AfCRA was not created merely to compete with existing international credit rating agencies, adding that its purpose was — and remains — to offer assessments that are “rigorously independent, materially unbiased, credible and firmly rooted in Africa’s true measure.”
Why Africa wants fairer credit ratings
AfCRA was initially scheduled for launch in September 2025 and is designed to provide an alternative African perspective to the dominant global rating agencies — Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Ratings and S&P Global Ratings.
- The initiative emerged from growing concerns among African governments and policymakers over the way sovereign credit risks on the continent are assessed and priced by international agencies.
- Several countries, including Ghana and Zambia, have argued that repeated credit downgrades contributed to higher borrowing costs and worsened debt challenges.
- More recently, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) criticised Fitch Ratings over its downgrade of the Afreximbank, alleging that the assessment reflected a misunderstanding of African financial institutions.
APRM maintained that AfCRA is built for the global market while complementing existing agencies and filling a gap in how African risk is understood and priced.
According to the mechanism, Africa’s capital market is worth about $4 trillion, yet less than 5% of instruments by value carry a rating.
According to APRM, AfCRA’s mandate spans sovereign, sub-sovereign and corporate issuers, including segments that remain unrated today.
- Fitch, however, defended its methodology, maintaining that its ratings are based on globally consistent and transparent criteria.
- To safeguard its credibility and independence, AfCRA, though emerging from an AU decision, will not be owned by African governments.
- The agency is also expected to focus primarily on ratings for local-currency debt instruments.
Dr. George Elombi, President and Chairman of Afreximbank, represented by Senior Executive Vice President Denys Denya (Finance, Administration and Banking Services), said AfCRA would help correct a distorted perception of the African operating environment
- “Why should Dangote Group, which is rapidly expanding its footprint across Africa, be confined by Nigeria’s credit ratings?
- “Or why should major banks in South Africa, Egypt, Morocco and elsewhere, which have a presence in many jurisdictions in Africa, be limited by national ratings?” he asked.
He maintained that AfCRA must set a new benchmark for Africa, maintain its independence and be wholly owned by Africans.
AfCRA was eventually launched by AU representatives, including APRM and the Mauritius government.
Tinubu backs Africa-owned credit ratings
The development came months after President Bola Tinubu advocated the creation of an Africa-owned credit rating agency, arguing that African countries continue to face excessive borrowing costs due to inaccurate assessments of their economic risks.
The launch followed renewed calls from African leaders for greater control over the continent’s financial narrative.
In an opinion article published by the Financial Times, Tinubu warned that the so-called “Africa premium” — the gap between perceived and actual risk — continues to inflate the cost of capital for many African economies.
He argued that Africa’s access to global capital markets remains heavily influenced by the decisions of Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Ratings and S&P Global Ratings, whose assessments often shape investor sentiment but may not fully capture local economic realities.
