African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) President George Elombi has said fair and evidence-based credit ratings are essential to Africa’s industrialisation and economic sovereignty, speaking after S&P Global Ratings assigned the bank itself an investment grade BBB+ rating.

The lender, along with the African Union (AU) and other African institutions, has long argued that the three US-based private agencies that dominate global sovereign ratings — S&P Global Ratings, Moody’s and Fitch Ratings — use methodologies that disadvantage African sovereigns, contributing to lower ratings, higher borrowing costs and reduced development financing.

In 2025, Botswana, Morocco and Mauritius were among the few African countries with investment grade sovereign ratings, while South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire and Benin were rated just below that threshold. Some African countries are not rated at all, and remain virtually excluded from accessing international capital markets.

Speaking in Abuja, Elombi argued that Africa must move beyond exporting raw materials and build manufacturing industries that add value to the continent’s natural resources. Affordable access to capital was critical to this transition, he said, adding that accurate credit assessments could lower borrowing costs, strengthen investor confidence and support long-term economic development.

S&P Global Ratings, Moody’s and Fitch Ratings say they assess sovereigns according to common criteria, including economic, institutional and governance strength, monetary and macroeconomic policy effectiveness, and external and fiscal resilience.

“However, to say the Big Three have generally rated African sovereigns lower than developed countries is not necessarily proof of bias,” wrote Peter Fabricius, an independent foreign policy journalist and consultant at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria.

He cited an April report by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) and the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, which noted that while some measures, such as gross domestic product and debt ratios, are objective, others, including institutional and governance strength, are more subjective.

“Together with the weighting credit rating agencies give to the various criteria, this would allow for bias,” Fabricius argued. “The report found that even some of the objective indices were inherently unfavourable to African countries. For example, the Big Three’s emphasis on GDP per capita as a measure of economic strength effectively meant poorer countries were punished for being poor and were not offered an incentive to escape poverty.”

A 2025 United Nations Trade and Development report also argued that rating methodologies place greater emphasis on developing countries holding adequate reserves than they do for developed countries, compelling poorer economies to hold more conservative, low-yielding reserve assets and limiting their ability to invest at higher returns.

Afreximbank’s S&P boost

Afreximbank is a pan-African multilateral financial institution that finances and promotes trade within the continent and between Africa and the rest of the world. Its work includes trade finance, export development, industrialisation projects, payment systems and support for African companies and governments.

S&P assigned Afreximbank a BBB+ long-term issuer credit rating and an A-2 short-term issuer credit rating on June 11, with a stable outlook. The agency cited the bank’s public policy role, strong shareholder support and robust capitalisation.

The rating is significant because multilateral lenders depend heavily on capital market access to finance trade and development lending. A stronger investment grade rating can help lower funding costs and support Afreximbank’s ability to lend at scale, particularly as African borrowers face elevated global interest rates and tighter external financing conditions.

Elombi said the rating reflected the bank’s financial strength, including total assets and contingencies of $49.4bn, shareholders’ funds of $8.6bn, a capital adequacy ratio of 23% and a non-performing loan ratio of 2.4% in the first quarter of 2026. He urged other rating agencies to recognise Afreximbank’s treaty-based structure, preferred creditor status and strategic role in financing African trade.

His remarks come after a period of heightened scrutiny of Afreximbank’s credit profile. Moody’s downgraded the bank to Baa2 in 2025, citing weaker asset performance and reduced funding diversity, while Fitch later withdrew its rating after a dispute with the bank over the treatment of sovereign exposures and preferred creditor status. S&P’s investment grade rating has been welcomed by the lender as validation of its financial position and institutional mandate.

Funding and investor confidence

Elombi noted the bank is expanding investment in industrial parks and special economic zones through its Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), supporting industries including mineral processing, agro-processing, automotive manufacturing, textiles and pharmaceuticals.

He also cited continued investor confidence in the bank, pointing to its Samurai and Panda bond issuances and a $2bn equivalent dual-tranche syndicated term loan facility raised in the first quarter from 31 lenders across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Afreximbank said the three-year facility, concluded in March, raised $1.73bn and €228mn and would be used to refinance existing facilities and for general corporate purposes.

Industrial policy and AfCFTA

Elombi said Africa’s industrial ambitions must also be supported by stronger trade infrastructure, logistics networks, digital payment systems and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). He also backed efforts to establish a New African Financial Architecture to strengthen the continent’s capacity to finance its own development.