Browsing: African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)

• The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) defends Pan-African Lender, Afreximbank, challenges western risk metrics.
• On 4 June 2025, Fitch Ratings revised the bank’s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating downward from ‘BBB’ to ‘BBB-’ and assigned a negative outlook.
• Fitch claims lender has 7.1% non-performing loan ratio while as lender places its NPL at a lower 2.44%.

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) has strongly criticized Fitch Ratings over its recent decision to downgrade the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), describing the move as flawed and based on a fundamental misunderstanding of intra-African financial architecture.

On 4 June 2025, Fitch Ratings revised Afreximbank’s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating downward from ‘BBB’ to ‘BBB-’ and assigned a negative outlook. The agency justified its decision by citing increased credit risks and alleged deficiencies in risk management, singling out what it claimed to be a 7.1 per cent non-performing loan (NPL) ratio.

According …