Africa sovereign credit rating review: 2022 End of year outlook

Abstract

This 6th edition of the African Union – African Peer Review Mechanism (AU-APRM) end of year Sovereign Credit Rating Review Report presents an analysis of the long term foreign currency sovereign credit rating actions in Africa by the three dominant international credit rating agencies (CRAs) – Moody’s, Fitch and S&P Global (S&P) – during the second half of 2022 (2022H2) and makes recommendations to both CRAs and African governments on how credit ratings can be improved. The continent faces a number of challenges to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 ‘The Africa We Want’. Amongst these challenges is the high borrowing costs, which is keeping most African states out of the financial markets, and this has been exacerbated by the risk of unsustainable debt levels as cited in the ratings actions.