President Bola Tinubu has welcomed the African Union’s announcement that the African Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) will officially launch on October 7 in Port Louis, Mauritius.
President Tinubu said this in a post on his official X account on Thursday, describing the development as a major step towards creating financial institutions that better understand African economies and risks.
The President said he had advocated the establishment of an African credit rating institution in a February 2026 article published by the Financial Times and reiterated the call at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, in May.
He said AfCRA would provide an alternative assessment of African economies, stressing that the continent was not seeking preferential treatment but fair evaluations based on its economic fundamentals and ongoing reforms.
“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,” President Tinubu said.
In his Financial Times article, the President argued that African countries were paying too much to borrow due to what he called the “Africa premium”, the difference between how international rating agencies assess African economies and their underlying economic realities.
He criticised the dominance of Fitch, Moody’s and S&P Global Ratings in determining Africa’s access to international capital, citing a 2023 United Nations Development Programme estimate that weaknesses in credit ratings cost the continent about $75bn annually in excess interest and foregone lending.
President Tinubu argued that an African agency could provide deeper on-the-ground knowledge of local economies, particularly commodity-dependent countries that are vulnerable to downgrades during global market downturns.
However, he stressed that AfCRA should not be seen as a replacement for established global rating agencies, saying its credibility would depend on its independence 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,” he said, adding, “I look forward to October 7.”