DataPro Gathers Global Experts to Guide Africa’s Rating Push
By Patience Ikpeme
DataPro has revealed the list of experts who will speak at its 6th International Credit Rating Webinar, an online event that will bring together policymakers, researchers and rating specialists to discuss how African countries can work their way up to investment-grade credit ratings.
The online event carries the theme “Sovereign Credit Rating: Africa’s Roadmap to Investment-Grade Status.” It will bring together people with different backgrounds in government finance, economic research and the credit rating business, all coming together to look at what needs to change for African countries to earn better ratings from the big international rating agencies.
The list of speakers shows that the conversation is moving away from just looking at technical scores and numbers. Instead, it is turning toward the real work of policy change, building stronger institutions and developing local markets that can attract investors who are willing to stay for the long term.
One of the main speakers is Dr Misheck Mutize of the African Peer Review Mechanism. He is one of the people pushing for the creation of the Africa Credit Rating Agency, known as AfCRA. He is expected to speak about how African countries can work together to depend less on foreign rating agencies and instead build trust in their own markets through better regulation and governance.
Nigeria will also be represented at the event. Oluwakemi Babalogbon, who serves as Executive Director for Risk Management at the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, popularly called MOFI, will bring over twenty years of experience in managing assets and overseeing government-owned companies. She is expected to speak about how Nigeria and other countries can be more open about their finances, manage risk better, and make good use of state-owned assets to keep their debt levels manageable.
Two respected scholars will also add their voices to the discussion. Dr Daniel Cash, who founded the Credit Rating Research Initiative, is known for his deep knowledge of how the rating industry works. Professor Torsten Schmidt of RWI will bring research on how economic growth and business cycles in different countries affect their credit ratings over time.
Also speaking will be Professor Kai Gehring of the University of Bern, who studies how governance, international lending institutions and foreign aid affect a country’s ability to be seen as creditworthy.
The discussions will be chaired by DataPro’s Chief Rating Officer, Oladele Adeoye, who will guide the conversation and help translate the technical details into information that investors and government officials can actually use.
According to the organisers, the webinar will look at practical steps such as cutting wasteful government spending, being more open about public debt, improving laws and institutions, and growing local capital markets. Speakers are also expected to talk about how long these reforms usually take and what conditions investors look for before they agree to give a country a better credit rating.
This matters because many African countries have continued to struggle with poor credit ratings even during periods when their economies were growing well. A better credit rating can help a country borrow money more cheaply, attract a wider pool of investors, and free up more money for schools, roads, hospitals and other development needs.
Still, the road to a better rating is not simple. It depends on countries making reforms that investors can trust, managing their economies carefully, and showing real improvement in how they govern themselves and handle their debts.
The webinar is expected to serve as a meeting point between the technical side of credit ratings and the everyday policy decisions that governments have to make. It offers a chance for officials who are serious about reform and researchers from around the world to share ideas on how African countries can improve their standing with international investors.
For Nigerian policymakers and investors watching closely, the discussion could offer useful lessons on how to build more trust in government finances, make smarter use of national assets, and negotiate better terms when borrowing from international markets.
