Private credit rating agencies shape Africa’s access to debt. Better oversight is needed

By Daniel Cash, Senior Fellow, United Nations University; Aston University

Africa’s development finance challenge has reached a critical point. Mounting debt pressure is squeezing fiscal space. And essential needs in infrastructure, health and education remain unmet. The continent’s governments urgently need affordable access to international capital markets. Yet many continue to face borrowing costs that make development finance unviable.

Sovereign credit ratings – the assessments that determine how financial markets price a country’s risk – play a central role in this dynamic. These judgements about a government’s ability and willingness to repay debt are…

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