African Leaders Push For Credit Reforms At Nairobi Summit

African leaders pressed for sweeping reforms to improve access to affordable credit during the second day of the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, as they seek to unlock major investments across the continent.

More than 30 African heads of state and government gathered in Kenya’s capital for the summit with French President Emmanuel Macron, the first time France has hosted such an event in an English-speaking African country.

Kenya’s Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi said the core issue was the high cost of borrowing caused by perceptions of elevated risk. “Africa has always been regarded as a high-risk area. And therefore access to credit, both for governments and for businesses, has always been pegged at higher interest rates,” Mudavadi told Reuters. “We need to address that. We need to have a situation where the financial markets globally start looking at Africa differently.”

Among the attending leaders were the presidents of Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia, along with UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Macron expressed support for a first-loss guarantee mechanism to boost private investment into Africa. “We are going to go together to Evian in mid-June to convince the G7 to endorse that,” he said. He also invited Kenyan President William Ruto to attend next month’s G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France.

The leaders called for changes to the methodologies used by international credit rating agencies, which they accuse of overstating Africa’s risk. They also proposed that wealthy nations establish a debt refinancing mechanism for heavily indebted countries.

Major rating agencies, including S&P Global Ratings, Moody’s and Fitch, reject claims of regional bias, insisting their assessments are based on globally applied and publicly disclosed criteria.

The African Union is working to establish its own continental credit rating agency, which supporters say would offer a more accurate evaluation of African risk. In January, the African Export-Import Bank cut ties with Fitch over the agency’s risk assessment approach.

Broader discussions at the summit covered climate action, peace and security, digital transformation, and stronger African representation on the UN Security Council, including possible limits on veto powers.

France hopes the summit will help rebuild partnerships in Africa as its influence has waned in several former West African colonies, where governments have expelled French troops and reduced economic ties.