The African Union (AU) has fixed October 7, 2026, for the official launch of the African Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA), a development expected to advance efforts to strengthen Africa’s financial sovereignty and address concerns about how the continent’s credit risks are assessed internationally.

AfCRA will be launched in Port Louis, Mauritius, where the agency is headquartered.

The AU announced the development on its official X account on Wednesday, describing AfCRA as a landmark initiative intended to deliver more context-driven assessments of African economies and businesses.

The continental body said African countries have for decades faced higher borrowing costs because of what it described as skewed perceptions of the continent’s credit risk.

AfCRA was established to offer alternative credit opinions on sovereign and corporate entities while considering Africa’s economic realities, resilience and growth potential. The AU stated, “For decades, skewed risk perceptions have forced African nations to pay an unfair ‘risk premium’ on global capital,”

The organisation further described the agency as “a bold assertion of African agency, financial sovereignty and institutional confidence.”

The new agency is expected to introduce an African perspective into the credit-rating market, which is currently dominated by global rating companies including Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Ratings and S&P Global Ratings.

African governments and policymakers have increasingly questioned the methodologies applied by international rating agencies, arguing that some assessments do not sufficiently capture local economic conditions and may contribute to higher borrowing costs.

Ghana and Zambia are among the countries that have previously expressed concerns over the impact of repeated credit downgrades, saying they contributed to increased financing pressures and worsened debt challenges.

The African Peer Review Mechanism has also criticised Fitch Ratings regarding its downgrade of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank). The mechanism argued that the assessment did not adequately take into consideration the nature of African financial institutions.

Fitch, however, has defended its approach, maintaining that its ratings are determined using globally consistent and transparent criteria.

In a bid to reinforce its credibility and independence, AfCRA will not be owned by African governments. The agency is also expected to concentrate primarily on local-currency debt instruments.

The agency had originally been scheduled to launch in September 2025, but the rollout was delayed.

Its renewed launch date comes as calls increase for Africa to exercise greater influence over how its economies and businesses are assessed by international investors.

Earlier in 2026, President Bola Tinubu called for the creation of an Africa-owned credit rating agency, arguing that African countries continue to bear disproportionately high borrowing costs because of inaccurate assessments of their economic risks.

In an opinion article published by the Financial Times, Tinubu drew attention to the so-called “Africa premium” — the gap between perceived and actual risk — which he identified as a factor contributing to higher capital costs across the continent.

Through AfCRA, African policymakers hope to establish a rating system that offers greater context on the continent’s economic conditions while providing investors with an additional source of information for assessing credit risk.

Source: msme Africa online.