The African Union (AU) has launched the African Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA), an Africa-based alternative to the global rating firms that shape how investors price the continent’s debt.
The launch took place on Wednesday and was broadcast live on X by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the AU organ that coordinated the agency’s set-up. AfCRA is headquartered in Port Louis, Mauritius. The AU approved the initiative in 2017, and the launch had earlier been planned for September 2025.
Africa’s own economic story
Speakers said the agency exists to tell “Africa’s own economic story” with rigour and credibility.
Uganda’s Minister of State for Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Mr. Amos Lugoloobi, represented President Yoweri Museveni, who chairs the APR Committee of Focal Points. He said Africa has no shortage of potential but is held back by bottlenecks such as weak resource mobilisation and underdeveloped human capital. He added that the continent pays high borrowing costs, which he linked to the influence of global rating agencies. Africa, he said, does not want to avoid scrutiny, only accurate assessments that reflect the context in which its countries are developing.
The Chairperson of the AU Commission, Mr. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, said AfCRA was created to assess the risks facing African economies objectively and must stay independent to be credible.
The Chief Executive Officer of the APRM, Ambassador Marie-Antoinette Rose Quatre, said the agency grew out of a view of Africa that does not reflect the true size of its economy. She said AfCRA is not meant simply to compete with existing agencies, but to give independent, unbiased and credible assessments rooted in African realities.
Why it matters
AfCRA is designed as an alternative to the three dominant agencies: Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Ratings and S&P Global Ratings. African governments and policymakers have long complained about how those firms assess and price sovereign risk on the continent. Ghana and Zambia, among others, have argued that repeated downgrades raised their borrowing costs and deepened their debt problems.
More recently, the APRM criticised Fitch over its downgrade of Afreximbank, saying the decision reflected a poor understanding of African financial institutions. Fitch has defended its methodology as globally consistent and transparent.
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The APRM says Africa’s capital market is worth about $4 trillion, yet less than 5 per cent of instruments by value carry a rating. AfCRA’s mandate covers sovereign, sub-sovereign and corporate issuers, including segments that are unrated today. It is expected to focus mainly on local-currency debt.
Although it emerged from an AU decision, AfCRA will not be owned by African governments, a safeguard meant to protect its independence. The APRM said it is built to complement existing agencies, not replace them.
Afreximbank’s case
The President of Afreximbank, Dr. George Elombi, was represented by Senior Executive Vice President Denys Denya. He argued that AfCRA would help correct a distorted view of Africa’s operating environment. He asked why a firm like the Dangote Group, which is expanding across the continent, should be limited by Nigeria’s credit rating, or why major banks in South Africa, Egypt and Morocco should be confined by national ratings. He said AfCRA must set a new benchmark and remain independent and wholly African-owned.
Tinubu’s push
The launch comes months after President Bola Tinubu publicly backed an Africa-owned rating agency. In an opinion article in the Financial Times, he said the “Africa premium,” the gap between perceived and actual risk, keeps the continent’s cost of capital high. He argued that the three global agencies heavily influence investor sentiment, even when their views may not reflect local economic realities.
Sunday Michael Ogwu is a Nigerian journalist and editor of Pinnacle Daily. He is known for his work in business and economic reporting. He has held editorial roles in prominent Nigerian media outlets, where he has focused on economic policy, financial markets, and developmental issues affecting Nigeria and Africa more broadly.