The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed, has condemned the recent downgrades of Nigeria by credit rating agencies.
She noted that these downgrades were based on factors beyond the country’s control and could affect the country’s ability to borrow from the international market.
The finance minister said this during a meeting with the United Nations Deputy Secretary General and Chair, United Nations Sustainable Development Group, Amina Mohammed, on Tuesday in Abuja.
She said, “We are coping with a lot and we are doing the best we can under very difficult circumstances. But to have to cope with credit rating agencies working as if nothing has changed, not realising the kind of shocks we are suffering with, and assessing us and downgrading us for factors external to us even when we are putting our best efforts, we think it is a situation we realise we can’t change.”
The minister further urged these credit ratings agencies to change their method of assessment to a more current system for a better assessment.
“In this ministry, we engage every credit rating agency and provide everything they ask for. But it seems as if it is not enough. They have to be some support that we need to get. They themselves need to do things differently. You cannot be making the same kind of assessments you were making some time ago. Things are different. Things are not going. We have seen some of our sister countries really hurt,” she said.
