UNECA: UN agency trains country teams on sovereign credit rating and development finance

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the Development Coordination Office (DCO) launched a training cycle on September 22, 2026, in Addis Ababa, entitled "Sovereign Credit Ratings for Policy and Development Finance," aimed at economists from UN Resident Coordinator offices worldwide, according to a UNECA press release. The program comprises three sessions. The first covers the impact of sovereign ratings on macroeconomic policy and risk pricing, featuring Samira Mensah from S&P Global Ratings. The second examines rating determinants—macroeconomic performance, governance, ESG criteria, data transparency—with Anushka Bogdanov, founder of Risk Insights, as well as country experiences from Alaa Abdel Rahman (Egyptian Ministry of Finance) and Joseph Alimamy Thullah (Sierra Leone Ministry of Finance). The third focuses on credit rating agency regulation and debt restructuring, featuring Daniel Cash (Aston University) and Stephana Hoareau, senior debt analyst at the Seychelles Ministry of Finance. Misheck Mutize, from the African Union's African Peer Review Mechanism, presents the progress of the African Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA). The sessions are led by Sonia Essobmadje, Chief of the Private Sector Development and Finance Division at UNECA, and Jean-Marc Kilolo. This capacity-building initiative aims to better equip UN country teams in dealing with ratings that directly determine African countries' borrowing costs, market access, and fiscal space to finance the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063.