FOR THE FIFTH YEAR IN A ROW, THE INTERNATIONAL RATING AGENCIES REAFFIRM BOAD’S INVESTMENT GRADE CREDIT RATING

Lomé, 25 May 2020. The West African Development Bank (BOAD) has just been notified by Moody’s of the renewal of its investment grade rating “Baa1” with stable outlook. This rating further confirms the soundness of the Bank’s fundamentals, despite the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, which also affects WAEMU economies. This is a good mark for our institution, whose rating has been reaffirmed year-on-year for five years now by international rating agencies.

Similarly, following its annual review, Fitch also reaffirms BOAD’s investment grade rating “BBB” with negative outlook on account of macroeconomic factors external to the Bank and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). This is not meant to undermine the Bank’s fundamentals, as well as the core quality of its creditworthiness which is one of the top 5 ratings on the African continent.

For President Adovelande, “by reaffirming the Bank’s quality credit rating, these two major agencies give us the opportunity to renew our message of confidence to international investors who, over the last 5 years, have provided BOAD with financial support to finance its operations in the member countries, in the form of bond loans totaling over the years more than XOF1,400 billion (or €2.1 billion)”.

The reaffirmation of these ratings highlights the excellent quality management of the institution by its President Christian ADOVELANDE, which once again is acclaimed internationally, the perfect fulfilment of the missions assigned to the institution; it is also the sound risk management policy of the institution which is therefore rewarded.

Over the past 47 years, the Bank has financed more than 1,200 projects for the benefit of WAEMU member countries and private companies for a total amount of XOF5,817.8 billion (or €8.8 billion), all operations combined. After completing its 2013-2019 strategic plan in December last year, with XOF2,281.5 billion (or €3.4 billion) of cumulative commitments over the period, the Bank is now working out its new five-year strategic plan to cover the 2021-2025 period, with aims which are closely aligned with the expectations of its member countries and the needs of the populations, while taking into account the specific issue of Covid-19.

For further information, please contact:

Direction de la Communication, du Marketing, des Relations Publiques et du Savoir

Tel.: + 228 22 23 25 65

Fax: + 228 22 23 24 38

Email : boadsiege@boad.org