By Chesa Chesa
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has welcomed the African Union’s announcement that the African Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) will officially launch on October 7, describing the development as a major step towards strengthening Africa’s financial architecture.
Tinubu, in a statement on Thursday, said the establishment of AfCRA would help advance the continent’s efforts to build financial institutions capable of better understanding and assessing African economies and their risks.
The President recalled that he had advocated the establishment of an African credit rating agency in an article published by the Financial Times in February.
He said he reiterated the call in May at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, where he emphasised the need for Africa to develop financial institutions that could properly assess the continent’s economic fundamentals.
“AfCRA is another step towards that goal,” Tinubu said.
The President stressed that Africa was not seeking preferential treatment from credit rating agencies but fair assessments based on the realities and fundamentals of its economies.
“Africa is not asking for favourable ratings. We are asking for fair ratings, grounded in our fundamentals and in the reforms our economies are actually carrying out,” he said.
Tinubu, however, noted that AfCRA would have to establish credibility and earn the confidence of international investors and global capital markets.
He said such confidence would depend largely on the agency’s independence, professionalism and the rigour of its assessments.
“AfCRA must now earn the confidence of global capital. That confidence will rest on its independence and the rigour of its work,” the President said.
