The financial rating agency S&P Global Ratings announced on Friday to maintain its AAA rating, the best, with a stable outlook, at the African Development Bank (AfDB), which is experiencing a crisis with the questioning of its president for prevarication.

"Whatever the outcome of the independent review" on the allegations of prevarication against AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina, "we expect shareholder support to remain strong." "We therefore maintain the long-term AAA credit rating for the AfDB," S&P wrote in a statement.

The A-1+ short-term credit rating (also the best) is also maintained.

"The outlook remains stable," the agency said, adding that "in the next two years, the AfDB will manage its capital prudently."

The AfDB has been experiencing a crisis for several months, with embarrassing accusations of "unethical behavior, personal enrichment and favoritism" having been exposed by "whistleblowers" against its Nigerian president, who refutes them en bloc, and who is the only candidate for re-election for a second five-year term.

In early June, under pressure from the United States, the AfDB announced the conduct of an "independent review" on the report of the internal ethics committee that had exonerated Mr. Adesina a month earlier.

The AfDB, headquartered in Abidjan, is one of the five major multilateral development banks. It has 80 shareholder countries (54 African and 26 non-African countries, from Europe, America and Asia).

A giant capital increase of $ 115 billion was recorded in October 2019 for this pan-African institution, the only one to benefit from a triple A rating.