Tinubu challenges Africa’s new credit agency to win global investors’ trust

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said the soon-to-be-launched African Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) must earn the confidence of global investors through independence, credibility and rigorous assessments.

Tinubu made the remark in a post on X ahead of the agency’s official launch on October 7, 2026, a date recently confirmed by the African Union (AU) following earlier delays.

The President’s comments come as African leaders push for institutions that can provide what they describe as fairer assessments of the continent’s economic risks and investment prospects.

What they are saying

Welcoming the AU’s announcement, Tinubu reiterated his long-standing support for an Africa-owned credit rating agency capable of assessing the continent’s economies based on local realities and ongoing reforms.

The President recalled advocating the initiative in an opinion article published by the Financial Times in February and raising the issue again at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali in May.

Tinubu welcomed the African Union’s announcement that the African Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) will officially launch on October 7.

• “AfCRA is another step towards that goal. 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.
• “AfCRA must now earn the confidence of global capital. That confidence will rest on its independence and the rigour of its work,” Tinubu said.

The President noted that the agency represents part of a broader effort to build African financial institutions capable of better understanding the continent’s economic realities and development trajectory.

Get up to speed

The African Union announced on Wednesday that AfCRA will officially commence operations on October 7, 2026, with its headquarters located in Port Louis, Mauritius.

• The agency is expected to serve as an alternative to the dominant global credit rating firms—Fitch Ratings, Moody’s and S&P Global Ratings—which have long influenced how investors assess African sovereign and corporate debt.
• According to the AU, the establishment of AfCRA is a major step toward strengthening Africa’s financial sovereignty and addressing concerns over the way African economies are assessed in global markets.
• The initiative emerged from growing frustrations among African policymakers who argue that some international ratings do not adequately reflect local economic conditions and reform efforts.

Countries including Ghana and Zambia have previously criticized multiple credit downgrades, arguing that such actions increased borrowing costs and exacerbated debt challenges.

More recently, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) challenged Fitch Ratings over its downgrade of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), alleging that the assessment reflected an inadequate understanding of African financial institutions.

What you should know

The launch follows renewed calls from African leaders for greater control over the continent’s financial narrative and risk assessment framework.

Earlier this year, Tinubu argued that African countries continue to pay excessively high borrowing costs due to what he described as inaccurate or incomplete assessments of their economic risks.

Writing in the Financial Times, the President warned that the so-called “Africa premium”—the gap between perceived and actual risk—continues to inflate the cost of capital across the continent.

He maintained that while global rating agencies play an important role in shaping investor sentiment, Africa needs institutions that can provide context-driven assessments that better reflect the realities of its economies.