African Union Launches AfCRA in Mauritius to Strengthen Africa’s Credit Assessments

The African Union has officially launched the Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) in Mauritius, establishing a continental institution designed to provide independent assessments of the creditworthiness of African governments, companies and other institutions.

The agency was launched in Port Louis on Wednesday, with the African Union saying it is intended to strengthen Africa’s financial architecture and provide assessments that better reflect the continent’s economic realities.

Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, said the Nigerian president played a role in pushing for the establishment of the agency after years of advocacy for an African-owned credit rating institution.

“While the idea of having an African Credit Rating Agency was first proposed in 2017, recent advocacy and push by President Tinubu has now made it a reality,” Olusegun said.

He also shared a video of Tinubu advocating for an African rating agency at a meeting in Kigali. Tinubu said he had made the case in a Financial Times article in February and again at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali in May.

The African Union said AfCRA was initially endorsed by its Assembly in 2018, while the African Peer Review Mechanism was subsequently tasked with supporting efforts to turn the initiative into an operational institution.

AfCRA is expected to assess African sovereigns, sub-sovereigns, companies and institutions. The AU said it would complement rather than replace existing international credit rating agencies by using African data, expertise and economic conditions in its assessments.

AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said the agency would help address gaps in the assessment of African economies and contribute to strengthening the continent’s financial system.

Youssouf stressed that AfCRA would not be created to guarantee favourable ratings for African countries, but would instead be expected to provide independent, evidence-based and technically rigorous assessments.

The agency is headquartered in Port Louis, with the AU citing Mauritius’ financial services sector, regulatory environment and connectivity with African and international markets as factors behind the choice of location.