African Union chief wants pan-African ratings agency
Senegalese President Mackie Sall, known as Sunday for the launch of a pan-African credit rating company, announced that the “too arbitrary” nature of the gazette of ratings through international groups has made it difficult for African countries to run around the world. Borrowing on the debt markets has made it more expensive. ,
Sal, who currently heads the African Union, told private radio RFM that there is a need for “very arbitrary rankings every now and then, given the injustices” through corporations around the world – “to be a pan-African For” body.
His remarks came on the eve of the Dakar Economic Conference 2022, organized by African economists.
“In 2020, when all economies were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, 18 of the 32 African economies rated by at least one of the major agencies saw their ratings decline,” he said.
This means that 56 percent of African countries downgraded their credit score rankings, compared to 31 percent of countries globally in the same period, Sal argued.
“Studies show that at least 20 percent of the rating criteria for African countries are based on more subjective factors, for example cultural or linguistic, that are unrelated to the parameters used to measure economic stability. are,” he said.
As a result, “the perception of investment risk in Africa is always much higher than the actual risk. This means our insurance premiums are higher and it makes our credit more expensive.”
Saul said African countries continued to pay very high interest rates as a result of this unfair system.