Finance ministry commissions credit rating strategy
Freetown, March 20 (SLENA) – The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development last week Thursday commissioned Standard Chartered Bank, Sierra Leone to assist in the implementation of a credit rating strategy aimed at giving Sierra Leone the opportunity to access global capital credit market.
In his opening statement, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Khelfala Marah, described the event as very important and that the exercise will lay the foundation for the realization of the Agenda for prosperity, which he described as an ambitious project, requiring funding estimated at USD 2 billion.
He said the prosperity agenda is ambitious because it sets the basis for the president’s determination and commitment to transform Sierra Leone into a middle income country by 2035, even though government has been advised to streamline this objective with what has been stipulated by the United Nations development agenda
The minister noted that in order for Sierra Leone to achieve that objective things will have to be done differently, away from what used to be business as usual, saying the country should be able to raise funds through the global capital market such that it can undertake development programmes in fulfilment of its obligations to its citizens.
Dr khelfala Marah disclosed that Standard Chartered Bank has been working with government to formulate and assist in the implementation of a credit rating strategy tailored on the country’s needs to cover the entire credit-rating cycle, including the annual review, periodic agency updates and ongoing strategic communications work.
He pointed out that the country’s rating will depend on the country‘s governance systems, considering access to justice, human rights, freedom of expression and the press, etc, stressing that the lower these are ranked, the lower the country’s prospect will be.
He said the meeting, which was well attended by various MDAS, symbolized the significance of collaboration in governance, noting that each and every player within government should be involved in the credit rating process so that at the end of the day the country will be credited higher and opportunities as a country will be greater.
In her presentation, Catherine D’ Yvoire of the Standard Chartered Bank Rating Advisory Team said the rating will tell Sierra Leone’s story, its positive economic, infrastructural and governance successes as a post conflict country and urged that MDAs to provide data to the rating agency on a regular basis.
The debut rating process is expected to last for twelve weeks following receipt of data on every aspect of government’s activities, taking the use of qualitative and quantitative factors into consideration.
The session was followed by question and answer period.
HB/MoFED/SLENA
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