The AfCFTA Secretariat has expressed grave concerned by the recent downgrade of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) by Fitch Ratings.
The Secretariat says while they acknowledge the role of rating agencies in global financial markets, they are concerned that such assessment may not fully reflect the evolving realities, priorities and vision of the African continent.
Afreximbank has been in the forefront of efforts at transforming the economic landscape of Africa and is a strategic partner of the AfCFTA Secretariat in pursuing a successful implementation of the AfCFTA.
The Bank’s interventions span key areas including trade and project finance, implementation of the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund, development of industrial value chains, promotion of digital trade and payments in local currencies through PAPSS, and broader investment facilitation aligned with the AfCFTA’s objectives.
The Bank continues to play an essential role in de-risking trade and enabling private sector participation across the continent and the AfCFTA Secretariat believes that the rating action, based in part on the reclassification of sovereign exposures to shareholder States (in disregard of established international financial reporting standards applied by financial institutions) and the disclosure of those exposures, raises broader concerns about the interpretation of intergovernmental financial obligations.
Afreximbank operates under a Treaty-based framework that provides preferred creditor treatment and safeguards the Bank’s role in providing critically needed support when global capital markets become difficult to access.
Thus, the AfCFTA Secretariat views the classification of these exposures as non-performing in the absence of a formal default, repudiation, or material breach, which fails to reflect the spirit and structure of African multilateral finance.
In a statement released by the AfCFTA Secretariat, the explained that what is more worrying is the rating agency’s forthright attribution of a negative outlook on Afreximbank on the basis that its sovereign exposures may be restructured unilaterally, in total disregard of the Treaty conferring it with a preferred creditor status as signed and ratified by 53 African States.
“The AfCFTA Secretariat underscores the importance of credit assessments that are not only rigorous but also grounded in a full understanding of the legal and governance arrangements underpinning African multilateral finance institutions. Afreximbank has been an indispensable partner in advancing Africa’s collective economic interests, particularly during times of crisis.
From leading pandemic recovery efforts to financing critical trade and infrastructure initiatives, the Bank has consistently stepped in where conventional institutions have hesitated. Its catalytic role, especially in supporting the implementation of the AfCFTA and strengthening of regional value chains, reflects a strategic and development-focused mandate as recognized in its establishment instruments” The statement emphasizes.
In an era where Africa is striving for economic sovereignty, industrialisation, and integration, downgrades that fail to account for the political will and regional solidarity underpinning these initiatives risk reinforcing outdated narratives of African risk.
Rather than penalizing institutions that are driving transformative change, the international community should recognise and support Afreximbank’s mission as a pillar of Africa’s economic resilience and integration.
The AfCFTA Secretariat says it remains confident in Afreximbank’s long-term strength, its visionary leadership, and its critical role in the structural transformation of African economies and call for a more balanced consideration of the status of African institutions, especially as duly mandated by sovereign African States.
“Afreximbank is not only a cornerstone of Africa’s trade and development architecture, but also an essential instrument for the delivery of the AfCFTA. It is deeply concerning that, at a time when Africa is mobilising its institutions to implement its most ambitious integration effort, such a rating action would be issued based on assumptions that fail to account for the Bank’s legal foundation and institutional mandate,” said Wamkele Mene, Secretary- General of the AfCFTA Secretariat.
“Africa cannot accept that the assessment of its leading institutions is driven by a misguided and biased reading of the Treaty establishing the institutions. In particular, it is strange that the most valuable African multilateral institutions are mischievously reported as not entitled to the protections of African States afforded by their respective establishment treaties, while at the same time advocating that similar foreign institutions operating on the continent are entitled to those protections by the same African states. It is time Africans understood that this is a deliberate and coordinated attempt at undermining institutions established and controlled by Africans to promote its development.” . Wamkele Mene added
The AfCFTA Secretariat says it stands firmly in support of Afreximbank and its continued leadership in financing the continent’s transformation and encourages all stakeholders, including investors and financial partners, to maintain confidence in Afreximbank’s institutional resilience and its foundational role in delivering the continent’s integration priorities. The Bank remains a credible and indispensable instrument for accelerating intra-African trade.
The AfCFTA Secretariat reaffirms its full confidence in Afreximbank’s track record, governance, financial soundness and enduring relevance to the continent’s economic transformation.
