Bajan named to UN Africa ratings council

Barbadian development economist and sovereign credit specialist Kelvin Dalrymple has been appointed to a major United Nations council aimed at improving the credit ratings of several African countries.

Dalrymple, a former Moody’s Investors Service lead analyst for Sub-Sahara Africa and multilateral development banks, has been asked to serve on the high-powered 12-member United Nations Development Programme Consilium of Advisors, which operates across the continent under the Africa Credit Ratings Initiative (ACRI).

The ACRI is aimed at strengthening African countries’ capacity to navigate the credit ratings process, thereby boosting ratings and easing access to more affordable capital.

Dalrymple, the founder and CEO of The Ratings Advisory Clinic (TRAC), was in Bridgetown for the annual Barbados Risk & Insurance Management Conference (BRIM), hosted by BIBA, the Association for Global Business.

In his presentation to nearly 300 delegates attending the international hybrid conference, Dalrymple highlighted the growing urgency for developing countries to achieve investment-grade credit ratings, as donor and development funding declines and more states are forced to access open capital markets for financing.

“We advise countries in sub-Saharan Africa on their credit ratings. And that particular programme [ACRI] focusses on the fact that many countries are at that very critical juncture and intersection where their donor funds have dried up and they now have to be on the capital markets often to borrow to fund their development,” the former Caribbean Development Bank chief economist noted.

Dalrymple’s boutique advisory firm works with emerging and frontier economies on sovereign credit ratings strategy, fiscal reform design, debt sustainability, and broader development policy architecture.

Dalrymple has over 25 years of experience across central banking, government, international financial institutions, development economics, and credit ratings. He started his career as an economist at the Central Bank of Barbados, later serving as Director of Research and Planning and Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister. 

The former chief economist at the Caribbean Development Bank, also served as alternate executive director at the World Bank and senior advisor to the executive director at the IMF, representing Canada, Ireland, and the Caribbean. He later joined Moody’s Investors Service in London as a vice president – senior credit officer.

 (IMC)