Moody's on Jan. 23 upgraded African Export-Import Bank's issuer rating to Baa1 from Baa2, with a stable outlook, after the bank recently secured a five-year insurance policy for callable capital on behalf of the bank's class A and B shareholders.

The policy improves the bank's overall creditworthiness by providing credit uplift to Afreximbank's covered class A and B shareholder base to investment grade, increasing the likelihood of timely equity injection in the event of a call on callable capital by the bank. The terms of the policy, however, do not provide for full credit substitution and therefore constrain the size of the credit uplift.

The rating agency assessed the bank's capital adequacy and liquidity position at medium, reflected in the Baa1 rating.

At the same, the agency upgraded Afreximbank's long-term deposit rating to Baa1 and its short-term bank deposit rating at P-2.