Africa

The coronavirus pandemic and the oil price shock it triggered have had a severe impact on sovereigns in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), which led to rating downgrades on seven of the 19 rated SSA sovereigns since the beginning of March 2020, Fitch Ratings says. Four sovereigns in the region have Negative Outlooks on their rating, which is unusually high, pointing to continued downside risks to ratings. Four sovereigns are rated 'CCC' or below (in such cases Fitch does not assign Outlooks) while only one (Cote d'Ivoire) carries a Positive Outlook.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Togo-based Ecobank Transnational Incorporated's (BRVM:ETIT, GSE:ETI, NGSE:ETI) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'B-' from 'B' and Viability Rating (VR) to 'b- from 'b'. The Outlook on the Long-Term IDR is Stable. A full list of rating actions is at the end of this rating action commentary.

Jumia yesterday closed its Tanzanian business, just ten days after leaving Cameroon. A statement from the company reveals that the retailer left Tanzania to focus on operations in other countries.

Morgan Stanley Capital International ( MSCI) has made a change in the MSCI Frontier Market Index as part of the company’s regular update cycle.