African states’ return to the eurobond market is taken as a sign of confidence. But the price of this debt is set by three gatekeepers: the rating agencies, the banks that hedge the currency risk, and the investors who refinance. On the international market, all three sit, for the most part, outside the continent.
On 18 February 2026, Côte d’Ivoire raised $1.3 billion over 15 years, at a cost of 5.39% in euros after currency hedging, according to its Ministry of Economy. On 30 January, Cameroon raised $750 million through a private placement at a yield of 10.125%, according to the Cameroonian press, equivalent to 7.79% in euros after hedging, according to its Ministry of Finance. Two separate CFA francs, pegged to the euro at the same rate: yet Cameroon pays 2.4 points more, over a shorter maturity.
What the rating leaves out
The first explanation is the rating: as of 11 November 2026, Côte d’Ivoire is rated BB by two of the three major international agencies and Ba2 by the third; Cameroon sits four to five notches lower. For the better rated, the price is falling: Côte d’Ivoire’s cost went from 6.60% in January 2024 to 5.39% in 2026, according to official statements.
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But is the rating fair? UNDP (2023) estimates that subjective deviations of ratings from economic fundamentals cost the African countries it studied a cumulative $74.5 billion in excess interest and forgone financing. An IMF working paper (2023) disputes this bias: sub-Saharan Africa’s excess risk premium disappears once structural factors, such as fiscal transparency, are taken into account. The question is who defines and measures those factors.
The Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA), an African Union initiative, was launched on 7 October 2026 in Port Louis; as of 11 November, it had not published any rating.
One debt, two prices
Official statements display the cost “in euros after hedging”; investors are paid in dollars. Between the two sits a cross-currency swap arranged with banks. The gap stems first from the difference between dollar and euro interest rates; neither the structure of the contract nor the banks’ fees are published.
Hedging into euros makes sense: both CFA francs are worth 655.957 francs to the euro. But this peg is backed by a guarantee from France. For the WAEMU, the reform of 21 December 2019 ended the deposit of reserves at the French Treasury but kept the fixed parity and the unlimited convertibility guarantee, according to the BCEAO; in the CEMAC, the BEAC still deposits part of its reserves in an operations account at the French Treasury. Hedging shifts the currency risk from the dollar to the euro peg; it does not remove it. Any recalibration of this arrangement would change the equation, subject to actual findings on the political and geopolitical ground.
Borrowing to repay
In February 2025, Gabon borrowed at a yield of 12.7%, the most expensive of the three African issues of the first half of 2025 according to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), partly to buy back an older eurobond with a 6.95% coupon that was maturing. All three issues (Benin, Gabon, Kenya) included, according to the APRM, an element of liability management, and all cost more than previous ones.
In May 2026, Congo raised $850 million at 9.5% to buy back $564 million of 9.875% notes due 2032: four more years and a slightly lower coupon, but debt pushed back rather than reduced. Each maturity brings the state back before the same investors, at the price of the day.
Regional savings lend, but short
In 2025, WAEMU states raised CFAF 9,069.0 billion in bonds on the regional market, excluding Treasury bills: nearly five times the CFAF 1,821.0 billion raised through eurobonds, according to the BCEAO.
On the face of it, the regional market costs more. In late February 2026, Côte d’Ivoire offered regional savers 5.85% over 7 years and 6.00% over 10 years: more than the 5.39% obtained internationally, over 15 years. But that euro rate leaves the state with parity risk and hedging costs that CFA franc borrowing does not carry; and interest paid to regional savers largely stays within the Union. Regional rates are falling, too: 6.16% for Treasury bills in the first half of 2026, compared with 7.57% a year earlier.
Above all, the regional market lends short: 48.2% of the bonds issued in 2025 were 3-year bonds, and only 24.5% had a maturity of 7 years or more. In 2025, interest on public debt absorbed 17.9% of WAEMU states’ tax revenue, according to BCEAO estimates.
In March 2025, Côte d’Ivoire placed a CFA franc bond on the international market for the first time: CFAF 220 billion at 6.875% over three years, a debt with no currency risk for the state as long as the peg holds. A deep market, where pension funds and insurers lend long-term, is the condition for that price to be set on the continent.
Four indicators to watch
- The gap between the cost of eurobonds after hedging and that of regional borrowing, at comparable maturity and currency risk.
- The share of new issues used to buy back old ones.
- The share of regional bonds issued at 7 years or more: 24.5% in 2025.
- AfCRA’s first ratings, and how far they differ from those of the three major agencies.
For long-term debt, the price is set today far from the continent, for lack of African savings willing to lend over 15 years. As long as that market is missing, others will set it. A country that does not control its currency is not economically sovereign; nor is one that can only borrow long abroad.
Omolola Yakubu, Founder of Sankofa Finance (sankofafinance.com).
Sources: Côte d’Ivoire Ministry of Finance (statement of 25 March 2025) and Ministry of Economy (20 February 2026, ratings); Cameroon Ministry of Finance (30 January 2026, via EcoMatin); EcoMatin and Financial Afrik (Fitch rating of Cameroon, October 2026); BCEAO, Monetary Policy Reports for WAMU, March and September 2026, statement on the CFA franc reform (21 December 2019); BEAC, special report on the operations account (2025 financial year, via EcoMatin); Agence ivoirienne de presse (1 March 2026); Le Soleil (26 March 2025); UNDP, Lowering the Cost of Borrowing in Africa (April 2023); IMF Working Paper WP/23/130 (June 2023); APRM, Africa Sovereign Credit Rating Review, 11th edition (2025); African Union and APRM (AfCRA launch, October 2026); notice of Congo’s issue by the state’s legal counsel (June 2026); EcoMatin (Gabon, February 2025).
Omolola Yakubu
Founder of Sankofa Finance, independent economic intelligence and financial rating. A certified financial analyst and former accountant turned management controller, he deciphers capital markets, public debt and monetary policy across the continent with a constant commitment to rigorous, verifiable sourcing.
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