China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co., Ltd (CCXI) has assigned an ‘AAA/Stable’ rating to African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), a pan-African trade finance institution. In its 2024 Credit Rating Report for African Export-Import Bank, CCXI noted that the rating considered, as key rating strengths, Afreximbank’s “very high strategic positioning; sound risk management system; agility and adaptability in business generation, very strong profitability and prudent liquidity management underpinned by a very high coverage ratio of current assets over short-term debts”. At the end of December 2023, Afreximbank's total assets and contingencies stood at over $37.3 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to $6.1 billion. “CCXI recognizes Afreximbank’s strategic relevance to the (African) continent and its ability to execute on its strategic goals and mandate and to meet the needs of member states at different stages of development, even during the most challenging times,” it said in its report, adding that it believed that bank’s ratings would remain stable over the next 12 to 18 months. Denys Denya, Afreximbank’s Senior Executive Vice President, noted that the rating represented the strongest endorsement the bank had received from any credit rating agency and that the Bank had become one of the first African multilateral financial institutions to achieve a top credit rating grade in the Chinese market, especially on the strength of its stand-alone credit profile. “This is, again, a testament to the bank’s systemic relevance to the African continent; its strong delivery of its developmental mandate; its prudent risk management practices and its relentless focus on capital and liquidity over the years which have culminated in a formidable rating that provides us with new opportunities to raise competitively priced capital in China and to diversify our funding partnerships,” she said. According to Denya, the rating puts Afreximbank on a stronger footing as it embarks on fundraising activities in a relatively new capital market as “we continue to leverage optimal financial resources into Africa.” He pointed out that the ‘AAA’ credit rating would give utmost assurance to the bank’s new and existing funding partners in China to support the bank’s fundraising activities on competitive terms and would position the bank to pursue its developmental mandate and objectives. Since 2019, Afreximbank has grown its assets by 28 per cent (5-year compound annual growth rate), achieving a return on average equity of 11 per cent and sustaining its capital adequacy at 25.5 per cent, on average. It launched its largest general capital increase in 2021, targeting to raise $2.6 billion by 2026, but achieved nearly 90 per cent of that target in three years, despite volatile macroeconomic circumstances.
![Africa Export-Import Bank (Afrieximbank) Senior Executive Vice President Denys Denya. [Courtesy]](https://www.newtimes.co.rw/thenewtimes/uploads/images/2025/01/21/thumbs/1200x700/68798.jpg "Africa Export-Import Bank (Afrieximbank) Senior Executive Vice President Denys Denya. [Courtesy]")