Rating Release
Agusto & Co. affirms Development Bank of Nigeria Plc’s ‘Aaa’ rating, with a stable outlook.
The rating expires on 30 June 2023.
Agusto & Co affirms the “Aaa” rating assigned to Development Bank of Nigeria (“DBN” or the “Bank”). We have also assigned an ESG Score of “2” to the Bank reflecting that environmental, social and governance issues have minimal contribution to the assigned credit rating. The rating takes into cognisance the support of DBN’s good credit quality shareholders – the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). The rating also considers the support of other international development finance institutions such as the French Development Agency (AFD), KfW, the German Development Bank and the World Bank who provide funding, governance and technical support. Furthermore, DBN’s good asset quality, good capitalisation, good liquidity and experienced management team are positive rating factors. However, the rating is constrained by Nigeria’s weak macroeconomic fundamentals and the high vulnerability of MSMEs to headwinds.