African Press Review Mechanism (APRM) Ghana Sensitisation Meeting

The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) invited Mr Andy Akoto to represent KPMG and share insights on Corporate Governance at the two-day African Press Review Mechanism (APRM) Ghana Sensitisation Meeting on 18th March 2022 at Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Regional Integration, Airport.  Other invited guests included The CEO of Ghana Enterprise Agency, The President of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce, The Chief Director of the Ministry of Trade and Industry amongst others.

Due to the challenges of poor credit ratings when African countries suffered a record number of sovereign rating downgrades due Covid-19, the APRM developed a Policy Framework of mechanisms for the provision of support to capacitate African countries in their engagements with international credit rating agencies and also engage International Credit Rating Agencies to employ scientific methods of risk assessment that do not disadvantage African countries. As part of its support mechanism, the APRM organised a sensitisation support workshop in Ghana which covered topics such as Credit Rating Developments in Ghana, Regulations of CRAs, Impact of Ratings, Experiences from other Countries, The Way Forward and Actionable Goals.

The main aim of this engagement was to improve the outcomes of future credit rating reviews through enhancing the engagements between international rating agencies and the representatives of the government. In addition, this meeting was intended to inform key stakeholders in Ghana about the APRM work on supporting countries in the area of international credit ratings as well as discuss the challenges faced by Ghana during its sovereign credit rating assessments and in implementing rating recommendations.

Overall, it was a well-attended session and invited guests and speakers were able to discuss the various topics in depth to get a good understanding of credit rating developments as well as the way forward for Ghana and Africa as a whole.