A mission on the National Assessment for Credit Rating, Preparations, Consultations, and Capacity-Building from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) made a courtesy call to the Financial Secretary at his George Street office in Freetown, on Monday, 16th June 2025.
In his statement, the Financial Secretary, Matthew Dingie, on behalf of the ministry’s leadership, welcomed the team, expressing delight at the objective of the mission, to engage the government in preparation for a national credit rating.
He informed his guests about the current ECF programme with the IMF, stating it is a policy of the government to reduce borrowing to a limited concessional level because of the country’s debt situation, to ensure the debt is sustainable within the threshold.
He emphasised that the leadership is eager to know the status of the rating, which, according to him, would help develop the road map for PFM Reforms, especially for debt Management.
The Director of the Public Debt Division, Mathew Sandy, stated that Sierra Leone commenced the credit rating process about five years ago, but due to economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the programme was put on hold.
Director Sandy further stated that with the recent progress in key economic indicators like inflation and exchange rate, the government is delighted to resume the rating process.
The Chief Economist for UNDP Africa, Raymond Gilpin, stated that UNDP has developed an idea to help African countries build capacity not through workshops but through mentorship and working through the processes. He added that the team would help build capacity, not only that, but we would also help to understand the data.
The UNDP Concilium Adviser, Relvin Dalrymple, explained that the rating focuses on several areas like, the economy, governance structure, debt, revenue and expenditures, etc.
This credit rating capacity building comprises staff from the Ministry of Finance Public Debt Management Division, Budget Bureau, Fiscal Risk, Accountant General’s Department, Micro-Fiscal and Research, Bank of Sierra Leone, Statistics Sierra Leone, and National Minerals Agency.
Credit: MoF Communications
