Ratings agency Fitch downgraded Afreximbank to junk and withdrew future ratings – a final move in a relationship with the African lender that had become combative. The ratings change to BB+ from BBB- comes after a dispute between the bank and Fitch over the agency’s assessments of the lender, in which Fitch flagged concerns over high credit risks, weak risk-management policies, and whether or not it would have to take a hit on loans to member nations. “The bank’s inclusion in Ghana’s restructuring underlines its weakening policy importance, in our view,” Fitch wrote.
Fitch said the apparent hit taken in Ghana’s debt restructuring raised the bank’s risk profile to ‘high risk’ from ‘medium’. Afreximbank, formally known as the African Export-Import Bank, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. On Friday, it said it was severing ties with Fitch due to a “firm belief” that the agency’s rating approach no longer reflected an understanding of the bank’s mission and mandate.
Ghana announced a “resolution” of its $750 million loan to Afreximbank on December 25. Reuters reported that the Paris Club of official lenders embraced the resolution – a signal that the bank took a hit on the loan. “We view this as evidence that Afreximbank did not benefit from its preferred creditor status,” Fitch wrote. Its withdrawal of Afreximbank’s rating, which it said was for “commercial reasons”, leaves only Moody’s among the “Big Three” agencies to rate it.
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