President Akufo Addo has taken a swipe at International Rating Agencies for unfairly and recklessly downgrading sovereign nations, particularly Ghana, during the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian/Ukraine war,.

According to him, that move has impacted negatively their economies.

In a speech to pay tribute to the remarkable contribution by the Africa Export and Import Bank, the president said the downgrades of some African economies have completely shut them from accessing the international capital market, which hitherto helped them to raise funds to support their liquidity needs.

President Akufo Addo believed that the difficult moment in the country’s economy was compounded by the downgrades making it one of the most difficult times in the history of the country post-independence.

“I can comfortably and convincingly say this as the AU champion for African financial institutions and leader of a country, which recently had to deal with one of the most difficult periods in his post-independence history, difficulties which were exacerbated by the reckless behaviour of rating agencies that engaged in pro-cyclical downgrades shutting Ghana out of capital markets and turning it liquidity crisis into a solvency crisis”.

“The country which had become the favourite child of bondholders, and had successfully gone to market at the height of the pre-Covid downturn was suddenly shut out of international capital markets” he noted”.

He, however, praised Afrieximbank for its timely support that took the country out of many challenges.

“Afrieximbank under its counter cyclical response mechanism provided timely support to help Ghana navigate the macroeconomic management challenges worsened by Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine in an orderly manner when suddenly, we realized we were alone”.

Meanwhile President of the Afrieximbank, Professor Benedict Oramah has assured of ongoing initiatives to expand banking reach to many citizens since most global banks are exiting the continent.

He also highlighted some successful implementations of new products aimed at making trade on the continent seamless.

Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori Atta used the occasion to call on the bank to expedite action in ensuring many African countries are out of the current challenges.

He believed the bank can serve as one of the pillars to transform the continent.