Lomé, November 17, 2021. The international rating agency Fitch has revised the outlook on the rating of the Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD) from negative to stable and confirmed its rating at BBB. It explains this revision by the strengthening of its shareholders’ support capacity with the upgrading of Côte d’Ivoire’s rating from B+ to BB- in July 2021, and Benin’s from B to B+ in October 2021, against a backdrop of improving macroeconomic prospects.
As a reminder, BOAD’s outlook had been revised from stable to negative in May 2020 to reflect the risk of downgrading by France, BOAD’s shareholder alongside WAEMU institutions and member countries. Fitch now stresses that a downgrade of France’s rating would have no impact on BOAD’s rating, all other things being equal.
BOAD’s intrinsic credit rating remains unchanged at BB+, reflecting the Bank’s solid fundamentals. Among the factors behind this rating, Fitch highlights strong shareholder support, adequate levels of capitalization and liquidity with good coverage of short-term debt by liquid assets, and proven access to capital markets. Fitch’s decision confirms BOAD’s financial strength and resilience in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.
The Institution welcomes this improvement in its rating, which comes at just the right time as, despite the restrictions imposed by the health situation, it has been implementing its new strategic plan for the period 2021-2025, known as “Plan Djoliba”, since January 2021.
Over the next five years, the Bank will strengthen its capacity to intervene on behalf of WAEMU countries and the private sector by increasing its capital and optimizing its balance sheet.
As part of its new sector-based approach, it has already expanded its areas of activity to include healthcare, social housing, education, digital technology and climate finance, which is at the heart of its financing approach.
In its 48 years of existence, the BOAD has contributed to the financing of 1,234 projects by member states and private companies of the West African Monetary and Economic Union (UEMOA), for a total amount of 6,592.7 billion CFA francs (10.05 billion euros).
This news is a source of pride for all BOAD staff, who see it as a reward for their daily efforts to preserve and strengthen the institution’s fundamentals and its status as one of Africa’s top-rated development finance institutions.
President Serge Ekué, reacting to this revision of the Institution’s rating outlook : “ We are delighted with this good news, which is the consequence of our sound accounts, the relevance of our vision for the region, and a positive collateral effect of the revised ratings for Benin and Côte d’Ivoire, combined with the reassessment of the impact of the revised rating for France on our Institution.
The support of our shareholders, and in particular our governments, is the bedrock of our credibility, and I would like to take this opportunity to solemnly thank each and every one of them for their unfailing support. These new prospects pave the way for ongoing reforms, the most important of which is the increase in the institution’s capital, on which we have been hard at work for many months “
About West African Development Bank
The Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD) is the joint development finance institution of the countries of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU). According to Article 2 of its Articles of Association, the BOAD’s purpose is to “promote the balanced development of member states and achieve economic integration in West Africa” by financing priority development projects. It is accredited with the three climate finance mechanisms (GEF, AF, GCF). Since 2009, BOAD has been an observer at the UNFCCC and has played an active role in discussions concerning the construction of an international architecture for climate finance. Since January 2013, it has been home to the first Regional Collaboration Center (CRC) on the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), whose aim is to provide direct support to governments, NGOs and the private sector in identifying and developing CDM projects. It is committed to carbon neutrality by 2023 and is an active member of the International Development Finance Club (IDFC), which brings together 24 national, regional and bilateral development banks.
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