Subjective credit ratings costing Africa dearly: UNDP

From the article:

*A UN Development Program (UNDP) report published this week indicates subjective credit rating agencies have had a significant effect on Africa’s access to finance, with the continent shelling out upwards of USD 74 billion in additional interest payments as a result of the skewed ratings.

The report reveals that African countries pay an average interest rate of 11.6 percent on loans, almost four times what creditors charge borrowers such as the US.

The report was presented during a ‘Development Context for Enhanced Credit Ratings in Africa’ workshop organized in Addis Ababa this week by the UNDP and AfriCatalyst, a Dakar-based think tank.

The UNDP has launched an initiative to respond to the rising cost of borrowing in global capital markets and the increasing difficulty of financing development in Africa.

Over the last decade alone, east African countries’ interest payment measured as percentage of gross national income (GNI), has surged to 80 percent, according to the agency.

This is partly due to subjective biases at international credit rating agencies, of which there are three who collectively rate over 90 percent of the world’s varying issuances.

Moody’s, Fitch, and S&P are the only international credit rating agencies that have offices in Africa, all of them in South Africa.*