Moody’s raises Benin’s sovereign rating to “Ba3”, with a stable outlook.

Benin is improving its financial rating with Moody’s. The international agency raised the country’s long-term sovereign rating from B1 to Ba3, with a stable outlook, according to a statement from the Beninese government dated August 7, 2026.

Before this decision, Moody’s assigned Benin a B1 rating with a positive outlook. The last change occurred in February 2025, when the agency maintained the rating but upgraded the outlook from stable to positive.

The move to Ba3 represents a one-notch improvement on Moody’s scale. This rating is approximately equivalent to BB- from Standard & Poor’s and Fitch. However, it remains in the so-called speculative category, with the threshold for the “investment” category at Moody’s starting at Baa3.

According to the government, this development places Benin among a limited number of sub-Saharan African countries that have a rating of “BB/Ba” or higher.

An 8.1% Growth Highlighted

Among the elements supporting this improvement, the statement cites the dynamism of the Beninese economy. Growth is said to have reached 8.1% in 2025, its highest level since 1990.

Moody’s forecasts, according to information provided by the presidency, a growth rate between 6.5% and 7% per year until 2030. This progression would be mainly driven by investments, industrialization, and the development of local raw material processing.

The agency would also emphasize the continuity of public policies and the robustness of institutions. The government highlights the implementation of programs concluded with the International Monetary Fund and the reforms undertaken in economic governance.

The budgetary situation constitutes another highlighted factor. The public deficit is said to have returned to 3% of gross domestic product in 2025, in accordance with the community standard of the West African Economic and Monetary Union.

This improvement is based, according to the statement, on the progress in revenue mobilization and the control of current expenditures.

Debt Management Also Praised

Moody’s also emphasizes Benin’s debt strategy. It relies on diversifying funding sources and actively managing maturity schedules to limit the cost of debt and refinancing risks.

In recent years, the country has multiplied the instruments used in international markets. After a bond issuance linked to the Sustainable Development Goals in 2021, Benin conducted its first sovereign issuance in dollars in 2024, followed by its first Sukuk in 2026.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance also presents the diversification of financing as one of the axes of Benin’s debt management strategy. Benin notably opened 2026 with a Sukuk sovereign issuance, described as a first for the country.

The “stable” outlook attributed by Moody’s means that the agency does not foresee, at this stage, any significant change in the rating in the short or medium term, as long as the main economic and budgetary balances evolve in line with its expectations.