Drawing parallels

African debt: What about the role of rating agencies?

In depth
This article is part of the dossier: Africa’s new debt deals

By Joël Té-Léssia Assoko
Posted on Tuesday, 14 June 2022 17:50

The global leaders in financial ratings for debt are once again facing a salvo of criticism from some 60 development actors. Here are some explanations and responses from the institutions in question.

This is part 3 of a 5-part series

“A detailed analysis showed that 61 of 154 rated sovereigns were downgraded by at least one of the three major rating agencies during the Covid-19 pandemic. Developing countries were [affected] by almost all sovereign downgrades, negative outlooks and rating revisions,” says the Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2022, which was published on 12 April.

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