S&P Global Ratings has rejected renewed allegations that it applies unfair or biased standards to African sovereign credit ratings.

The firm insists that all countries are assessed using the same transparent and long-established criteria.

S&P’s global head of sovereign ratings, Roberto Sifon-Arevalo, made this assertion in an interview on Thursday, as quoted by Bloomberg. He was speaking on the sidelines of an S&P-hosted event held during the G-20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

“We don’t treat Africa or Latin America or Asia — we don’t treat anybody differently. Our criteria, our methodology, has been public for decades now, and anybody can look at it,” he said.

Sifon-Arevalo rejected the notion of unfair treatment, saying that critics were attempting to compare African sovereigns with other economies that were structurally and fundamentally completely different. He noted that people often use developed nations as a measuring stick for African economies.

“Sometimes when I speak with people looking at Africa specifically, their benchmark is Europe or the United States,” he said. “I rarely hear benchmarking themselves with Southeast Asia or Latin America.”

He reiterated that S&P’s ratings criteria and methodology have been public for decades, and anyone is capable of replicating the ratings assessments using the established procedures. However, the rating process does involve a degree of human judgment.

“Look, we’re people, we are entitled to opinions,” he said. “And our opinion might not be the same as others. We try to do our best.”

The defence comes after Reuters reported earlier in the week that a panel of African experts had urged the Group of 20 major economies to step up oversight of credit rating agencies. The experts accused these agencies of employing flawed and opaque methodologies which, they claim, significantly increase borrowing costs for African governments.

The panel, established under South Africa’s G20 presidency, submitted a report to the group stating that rating agencies exhibit “perception biases”. It claimed they often assess African risk as higher compared to other global regions that possess comparable economic fundamentals.

In response to these persistent concerns, the African Union announced the launch of its own rating agency in February: the African Credit Rating Agency. This new body is specifically designed to address perceived biases from existing global rating firms.

Kenya’s President, William Ruto, officially unveiled the new agency at an AU event which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

A study conducted by the Africa Peer Review Mechanism and the United Nations Development Programme highlights the financial cost of this issue, suggesting that biased grading has cost Africa an estimated $75 billion in lost economic opportunities.

The concept of creating an independent African credit rating agency has been under consideration for years. The AU officially announced its definite plans to move forward with the project in September 2023.

This move was triggered by repeated criticism of the “Big Three” rating agencies—Moody’s, Fitch, and S&P—who are accused of applying a “negative bias” when conducting their assessments of African economies.