ADDIS ABABA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- African leaders have endorsed the establishment of the African Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) to promote financial independence and counter the systemic disadvantages imposed by external credit rating agencies.

The endorsement was announced Friday on the margins of the African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, during a gathering attended by several African leaders, including Ethiopian President Taye Atske Selassie and Kenyan President William Ruto.

The leaders emphasized that AfCRA would provide fairer assessments of African economies and address long-standing concerns over biased global credit ratings.

According to the Africa Peer Review Mechanism and the United Nations Development Program, Africa loses an estimated 75 billion U.S. dollars in economic opportunities annually due to these biases.

"Africa will no longer accept to be misjudged by the scales of global credit rating agencies that overlook our reality," Ruto told the gathering, a key advocate for AU financial reforms.

He criticized the reliance on flawed models, outdated assumptions, and systemic bias, arguing that these agencies have distorted Africa's economic outlook, exaggerated risks, and imposed unjustifiably high borrowing costs.

The establishment of AfCRA is expected to unlock the much-needed financing for the continent's development programs and drive meaningful change for its people. Enditem

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