AFDB gets Fitch Ratings AAA, outlook stable
The bank’ s Acting Vice President for Finance and CFO, Hassatou N’ Sele, noted:“ This stellar credit rating allows the African Development Bank to provide financial resources to African countries at favorable levels to develop their economies. Based on its strong financial position, the bank has launched game-changing initiatives for Africa, from helping…
The global credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has affirmed the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) long-term credit rating: AAA with a Stable Outlook.
The ‘AAA’ rating is given to institutions with an exceptionally strong capacity for payment of financial commitment. The importance of the Bank’s public mandate, its governance, and the excellent quality of its risk management was highlighted by Fitch.
The bank’s Acting Vice President for Finance and CFO, Hassatou N’Sele, noted: “This stellar credit rating allows the African Development Bank to provide financial resources to African countries at favorable levels to develop their economies. This is extremely important in the current environment of rising interest rates and issues around debt sustainability.”
The bank’s role in shaping the global development landscape received more recognition this week. Publish What You Fund, the global campaign for aid and development transparency, has ranked the bank’s Sovereign Portfolio first out of 50 global development institutions in its Aid Transparency Index.
Based on its strong financial position, the bank has launched game-changing initiatives for Africa, from helping African countries build back from COVID-19 recovery, to tackling the global food insecurity crisis sparked by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
As the global food crisis brought growing fears of food insecurity in Africa, the bank approved a $1.5 billion African Emergency Food Production Facility which will provide 20 million smallholder farmers on the continent with certified seeds and access to agricultural fertiliser to enable them to rapidly produce 38 million tonnes of food. This will see a $12 billion increase in food production in just two years and will build on the success of its flagship Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) program, which has delivered heat-tolerant wheat varieties to 1.8 million farmers in seven countries. Some 40 countries have already applied for funding from the Facility.
The bank has also been instrumental in the establishment of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation in Rwanda to significantly enhance Africa’s access to the manufacture of medicines, vaccines, and other pharmaceutical products to help hasten the continent’s post-pandemic recovery.
Source: The Nation
