The African Union turned its attention to the price Africa pays for capital, a day after launching its own credit rating agency. AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf chaired a roundtable in Port Louis on Thursday on lowering the continent’s risk premium, which is the extra interest borrowers pay because lenders judge them riskier. Africa’s external debt service climbed to $163 billion in 2024 from $61 billion in 2010, according to the AU, and 23 of its 55 states have no rating from S&P Global, Moody’s or Fitch.
Afreximbank said in a statement that the Africa Credit Rating Agency will be judged on the credibility of its analysis and the transparency of its methods, not on whether its grades are more favourable. The trade finance bank ended its relationship with Fitch in January and secured an investment-grade BBB+ rating from S&P in June. Its total assets and contingencies rose 7.8% in the first half to $52.3 billion, it said.
Tanzania’s central bank kept its benchmark rate at 6.25%, holding July’s increase in place as inflation rose to 4.3% in August from 3.2% in March. That leaves inflation just below the 5% ceiling of the bank’s target band. Private-sector credit growth quickened to 32.5% in the September quarter from 24% in the June quarter, the Bank of Tanzania said. The rebasing of the national accounts raised mainland GDP for 2025 by 1.8% to $92.3 billion and Zanzibar’s by about 31% to $3.6 billion.
South Africa’s manufacturing output fell 4.3% from a year earlier in August, a swing of more than five points from July’s 1.1% gain, Statistics South Africa said. Analysts had expected a small increase. Output dropped 3.1% from July, leaving it about 1% below its June level. Nine of 10 divisions contracted.
Nigeria’s All-Share Index fell 0.82% to 248,042.50, according to exchange data, a seventh straight decline. The drop erased N1.33 trillion ($1.0 billion) in market value, about twelve times the previous day’s loss. Energy shares led the decline: the oil and gas index fell 3.87%, while Aradel Holdings and Eterna hit the 10% daily limit. The index is still up about 59% this year.
J.P. Morgan plans to open a merchant bank in Nigeria before the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval. Dapo Olagunju, the bank’s managing director for West Africa, announced the plan at a Central Bank of Nigeria investor forum in Singapore. The bank gave Nigeria a 7.4% weight in its new frontier local-currency bond index in September.
Nigeria’s finance minister, Taiwo Oyedele, said NNPC Limited will sell petrol at cost for 30 days, with priority for public transport operators. He said the measure is not a subsidy. The upstream regulator said blocks awarded in the 2025 licensing round could add about 500 million barrels of reserves and 300,000 barrels a day of output within five years. That output would be a tenth of the government’s 2030 production target.
Airtel Money closed its institutional and UK retail offers ahead of a London listing on 14 October that values the company at £5.3 billion ($7.0 billion). Existing shareholders are selling about £529 million ($700 million) of stock, leaving 16.5% to 17.5% in public hands, Airtel Africa said. The International Finance Corporation committed up to $90 million as a cornerstone investor.
Ethiopia’s Abay Bank said pre-tax profit rose 47.6% to Br6.22 billion (about $37 million) in the year to June, almost twice the 25% growth in operating income. Its paid-up capital of Br9.66 billion (about $58 million) is nearly double the central bank’s minimum requirement.
Moove said it will wind down its operations in Nigeria, where the vehicle-financing company was founded six years ago. It will transfer cars worth about N35 billion ($26 million) to drivers at no cost. The exit comes two months after a Series C round led by Mubadala. Moove did not give a reason for leaving.
What to watch
The IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings open in Bangkok on Monday, and the IMF publishes its full World Economic Outlook on 13 October.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s N2.15 trillion ($1.6 billion) IPO closes on Tuesday, along with its Kenyan depositary receipt tranche. Under its offer document, the Kenyan tranche lapses unless applications reach KES 50 million ($385,000).
Ethiopia’s central bank holds a $140 million foreign-exchange auction the same day.
Airtel Money begins unconditional trading in London on Wednesday.