Afreximbank chief calls for reform of global financial architecture

Dr George Elombi, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank. [Courtesy]

The head of Africa's main trade finance bank on Saturday called for an overhaul of the global financial architecture, saying the rules used to judge African-owned institutions were designed for a different era and treat the continent as incapable.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Alamein Africa Forum in New Alamein, Afreximbank President and Chairman George Elombi said the rules used to judge development banks "were largely designed for another era" and that institutions differing from the post-1944 model are "scored as weak."

Elombi's intervention comes amid a broader push by African leaders for reform of the global credit system.

(L) Afreximbank President, Dr George Elombi, H.E. Évariste Ndayishimiye, President of the Republic of Burundi and Chairperson of the African Union for 2026, H.E. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt and Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, during the Alamein Africa Forum 2026. [Courtesy]

President William Ruto, addressing the UN General Assembly in New York last month, said subjectivity in sovereign credit ratings has cost African countries some $75 billion and argued that developing nations borrow at rates two to four times higher than developed economies. "Capital must price risk. It must not price prejudice," Ruto said.

Elombi said a methodology finalised in June by one major agency effectively told Afreximbank that the only route to a credit uplift was to add sovereign shareholders that are "large, non-borrowing and highly rated,” a category, he said, that no African government meets.

"The message was quite clear: hand over this institution to others outside the continent," he said, adding that only two African development finance institutions, both with non-regional shareholders, are treated as multilateral institutions and highly rated.

Elombi drew a contrast between capital already paid in by African states and callable capital – a promise of funds that has never been drawn at major development banks in more than 80 years.

"We, however, do not have to guess about you. You have answered, again and again, in cash," he said in a statement, noting that almost $300 million of fresh equity was paid into Afreximbank in 2025, with $226 million paid so far this year and a further $300 million expected.

"A promise from those who are retreating and who may never be called upon is being given greater weight than the money of those who have already shown up," he said, citing cuts to development assistance by more than half in some large, highly rated countries.

Elombi said Afreximbank's support for Ghana during its debt crisis had been used against it, with critics arguing the bank should be treated as a private lender rather than a multilateral institution and downgraded as a result.

"The pressure on this institution is not a sign of weakness. It is proof of relevance," he said.

He noted that S&P returned to rate the bank this year for the first time in more than a decade, assigning an investment-grade rating, and said it had been recognised as a countercyclical lender backed by shareholders who keep injecting capital.

The Afreximbank chief, addressing heads of state including Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Ghana's President John Mahama, framed the issue as one of ownership rather than credit ratings.

"Ownership is not a certificate. It is a set of choices that only you can make," he said, urging member states to keep capitalising the bank, honour the preferred creditor status conferred by the treaty they ratified, and stand together in defending African institutions.

He said the bank approved a $10 billion Gulf crisis facility within weeks of conflict disrupting shipping lanes, fuel markets and fertiliser supplies in February, and had deployed a $4 billion programme within months when the war in Ukraine sent food and energy prices soaring.

"We are not an incomplete copy of the Bretton Woods institutions. We are an institution built from a different history, with a different ownership model and a different record," Elombi said.

"Credit ratings should measure substance, not conformity."