Observatoire des droits humains (anglais seulement)

What Gabon’s rating downgrade tells us about how sovereign credit worthiness is judged

(Version anglaise seulement)

par Daniel Cash, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR), United Nations University; Aston University

The sovereign credit ratings of the leading credit rating agencies are most visible through their outputs: an upgrade, a downgrade or a change in “outlook”. The evaluative work that produces those outcomes receives far less attention. Yet it is precisely that work that explains why credit rating agencies occupy such an influential position in international finance.

The recent case of Gabon provides an unusually clear opportunity to observe this process in action.

Gabon had recently: