Sovereign Deep Dive: Africa
Solid growth and continued fiscal consolidation support the region’s prospects, despite debt affordability and financing challenges
Solid growth and continued fiscal consolidation support the region’s prospects, despite debt affordability and financing challenges
Strong growth in Africa alongside increasing revenue generation will support a gradual reduction in debt. However, debt affordability remains a key constraint with financing needs remaining high, even as governments demonstrate access to alternative sources of financing. Political and social risks also remain pertinent for the region.
Discussion Topics:
- What is underpinning the strong growth prospects in Africa?
- How are governments expanding revenue to achieve fiscal consolidation?
- What are the key structural constraints that governments continue to face?
Speakers
Christian Fang
Vice President - Senior Analyst, Sovereign and Sub-Sovereign Risk
Moody's Ratings
Elisa Parisi-Capone
Vice President - Senior Analyst, Sovereign Risk
Moody's Ratings
Mickaël Gondrand
Assistant Vice President - Analyst, Sovereign Risk
Moody's Ratings
Jorge Valez
Senior Vice President, Sovereign Risk
Moody’s Ratings
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Christian Fang is a Vice President and Senior Analyst with the Sovereign and Sub-Sovereign Risk Group at Moody’s Investors Service.
Based in Dubai, Christian serves as lead analyst for a portfolio of sovereigns in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, including Jordan, Kuwait, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka.
He is also lead analyst for the Gulf Investment Corporation and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, multilateral development banks serving the interests of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, respectively.
Christian was formerly based in Singapore covering a portfolio of predominantly Asia Pacific and Eurasian sovereigns and sub-sovereigns.
Prior to joining Moody’s, Christian was a Lead Portfolio Manager for the Monetary Authority of Singapore, where he was responsible for the investment of Singapore’s foreign reserves in European fixed income, global investment-grade credit, and global developed equity markets.
His time with the central bank included a two-and-a-half-year stint in London as its sole in-house investment representative. He also worked in monetary policy operations and macroprudential policy research, and was involved in the negotiation of Singapore’s renminbi swap line with China, as well as banking systemwide stress tests.
Christian holds an honors bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in Finance from Princeton University.
Elisa is Vice President – Senior Analyst at Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group in New York. She has lead and back-up analyst responsibilities for a number of North- and Sub-Saharan African sovereigns and supranationals. Her previous regional coverage also included sovereigns in Southeast Europe and in the CIS. Prior to joining Moody’s, Elisa spent two years at the Swiss Ministry of Finance in Berne, Switzerland, and seven years as Senior Analyst at Roubini Global Economic in New York covering the Euro area and Finance and Banking issues. Elisa holds an MA in Economics from New York University (NYU) and completed her undergraduate studies with a Lizentiat in Economics from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Elisa speaks fluent German and Italian and proficient French
Mickaël Gondrand is an Analyst in the Sovereign Risk Group for Moody’s Ratings, having joined in March 2016. Based in London, he covers a range of African and Middle East sovereigns, including Tunisia, Uganda and Iraq.
Prior to joining Moody’s Mickaël was a Senior Country Risk Analyst at BMI Research (Fitch), focusing on the Middle East and North Africa.
Mickaël holds a Master’s in International Political Economy from Sciences Po Paris and a MSc in Management and Strategy from the London School of Economics (LSE).
Jorge R. Valez is a Senior Vice President at Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group based in London. He serves as lead analyst for a portfolio of sovereigns and multilateral development banks in the EMEA region. He is also a global lead in analytical projects aimed at supporting rating accuracy and thought leadership across sovereign credit risks.
Jorge joined Moody’s in 2014 in the Financial Institutions Group. He also worked at Credit Strategy and Research leading the team responsible for banking projections and stress tests globally, as well as foundational research on ratings and capital markets.
Prior to joining Moody’s, Jorge worked for a bank as a macroeconomist responsible for forecasting and scenario analysis, and as a university lecturer in Macroeconomics and Econometrics.
Jorge is a PhD in Econometrics and holds degrees in Economics and in Business Administration.