The African Development Bank will launch a new initiative to help African countries better prepare for and manage their sovereign credit ratings, AfDB President Sidi Ould Tah announced. Credit ratings directly determine how expensive it is for governments to borrow on international markets, and African nations have long argued that rating agencies apply methodologies that don’t fully account for the continent’s unique economic structures, undervaluing creditworthiness and pushing up borrowing costs unfairly.
The move follows growing pressure from African leaders — including Kenyan President William Ruto’s recent UN General Assembly remarks pushing for reform of how multilateral institutions assess debt sustainability and calculate ratings.
By helping countries better engage with and present their economic data to rating agencies, the AfDB initiative aims to address what many African finance ministries see as a structural disadvantage baked into the current global credit system — one that costs the continent billions in excess interest payments annually.