Fitch Ratings, a leading provider of credit ratings, has predicted that the deteriorating global and domestic shocks will undermine credit drivers for African banks in 2023, which will lead to the downgrade of many of them.

According to Fitch’s sector outlook, these will add to existing operating environment risks, but the rating agency believes moderate GDP growth, with no major African economy entering a recession, combined with banks showing a good degree of resilience over the past two years, will prevent a more material downside scenario.

“Weakened African sovereigns and significant contagion risks to banks play a large part in our deteriorating sector outlook for 2023. Political risk will remain high and could bring further market uncertainty. Asset quality risks will return and be more prominent, with households and businesses continuing to be hit by high inflation, rising rates, currency depreciation, and US dollar shortages.”
Fitch

According to the rating agency, high commodity prices will be supportive of many African economies and banks’ operating environments but a key risk to asset quality would come if there was a sharp fall in commodity prices triggered by a global slowdown, especially with economic developments in China, a major trade partner.

Rising interest rates and still satisfactory loan growth (above GDP growth) will be supportive of banks’ revenue generation and profitability, and mitigate moderate rises in credit costs, it noted. Nevertheless, Fitch assumes only a moderate increase in impaired loan ratios.

In a statement, Fitch indicated that capitalization, funding, and liquidity remain comfortable, with the latter in particular, underpinning banks’ standalone creditworthiness. “Sovereign debt distress is a major risk to African banks’ financial profile. Sovereign downgrades could result in more bank rating downgrades in 2023.”

“We are most concerned about potential sovereign defaults with many African governments facing very high and increasing debt servicing burdens exacerbated by rising interest rates, US dollar strength, and unfavorable external funding conditions. The Ghana debt restructuring will affect domestic as well as regional banks.”
Fitch

The banking industry in Ghana is recently suffering downgrade as a result of the economic situation in the country. It can be recalled that FitchRatings downgraded Ghana’s Long-Term Local- and Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to ‘CC’, from ‘CCC’.

Fitch expected external financing access to stay limited until at least an IMF programme is agreed upon, as Ghana is likely to remain locked out of Eurobond markets, which had been the country’s regular source of external financing. Nonetheless, a staff-level agreement was reached with the IMF today, December 13, 2022.