The global rating agency Fitch has opted to keep Ethiopia’s credit rating at Restrictive Default—the same rating it issued after Ethiopia failed to pay the first USD 33 million coupon on its USD one billion Eurobond in December 2023.

“Fitch Ratings will move Ethiopia’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR [Issuer Default Rating] out of default once it completes its restructuring process with private creditors on foreign-currency debt,” reads a rating update issued by the agency on Thursday.

However, the rating agency upgraded Ethiopia’s Long-Term Local-Currency IDR to ‘CCC+’ from triple C status.

The upgrade, it said, “reflects reduced financing pressures, improved macroeconomic stability, and increased confidence that local-currency obligations will not be part of the debt restructuring.”

The rating came amidst the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held in Washington, DC over the week.

On the sidelines of the meeting, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told a press conference that with the exception of Morocco, African countries were failing to “put their fiscal houses in order”.

She said her organization encouraged countries to press ahead with their respective reform programs, and “not postpone” them, although the time, she admitted, was one in which the global trading system was fundamentally shaken.

Meanwhile, speaking at a sideline event, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Claver Gatete accused the global rating agencies of bias against African countries.

He called for Africa to establish its own internationally credible rating agency, which he said would be able to provide the continent’s own credit worthiness and ratings.