By: David Shoombe
The 2026 Global Credit Ratings (GCR) have indicated an elevation of the Africa Import-Export Bank (Afreximbank) from “Rating Watch Evolving” to “Stable” via a revised outlook.
The revised rating shows the resilience of domestic financial institutions and renewed confidence in African creditworthiness, also serving as added incentive for the full operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The GCR shared that the bank’s long-term programme rating on the US$5 billion Global Medium Term Note (GMTN) stood at A, indicating the bank’s ability to maintain a positive financial standing in the market regardless of various global pressures. The GCR report also noted that the revised outlook was based on improvements of the “immaterial downside risk related to sovereign debt restructurings.”
The readjustment also came with the elevation of some countries’ creditworthiness rankings, including Namibia, Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, advancing their long and short-term national scale issuer ratings to A1+.
It is further indicated that Afreximbank’s risk profile remains resilient with its non-performing loans ratio at 2.5% by end of September 2025 from 2.4% in the first quarter.
Commenting on the renewed rating, Afreximbank’s Managing Director and Group Treasurer, Chandi Mwenebungu, said “This is testament to the Bank’s financial and operational strength and that it has been able to demonstrate firm resolve in the face of continued macro-economic pressures and a challenging environment.”
The 2025 Afreximbank records indicate that net loans and advances amounted to US$27.8 billion in the first quarter of the year. The third quarter interim report showed that the bank recorded a profit of US$654.3 million, a slight increase from the US$642.2 million recorded in the same period in 2024.
Trade analyst Ruth Johnson states that, “The elevation of the Afreximbank to stable rating by an international rating agency is an indication that Africans can be able to manage their finance once institutions are strengthened.”
Johnson added that the 2026 rating proves that the African Peer Review Mechanism’s findings of 2025 were more accurate than those of other international rating agencies such as Fitch Ratings, which underrated African banks and domestic institutions.
