Fitch affirms the Caribbean Development Bank’s ‘AA+’ Rating

Published on February 24, 2026

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘AA+’ with a Stable Outlook.

In its rating action commentary issued on February 5, 2026, Fitch stated that “CDB›s ‹AA+› Long-Term IDR reflects its Standalone Credit Profile (SCP) of ‹aa+›, underpinned by liquidity and solvency assessments of ‹aaa’ and ‘aa+’, respectively.”

The rating agency cited CDB’s “excellent capitalisation” as a key rating driver stating that, “At end-September 2025, Fitch’s usable capital/risk-weighted assets (FRA) ratio was 78%, well above the 35% threshold for an ‘excellent’ assessment, and the equity/adjusted assets and guarantees ratio was 46%, comfortably above the 25% threshold for an ‘excellent’ assessment.

Other main drivers are CDB’s “‘low’ credit risk”, with Fitch assessing the Bank’s preferred creditor status as ‘excellent’; and its “very high liquidity”, which was ranked at ‘aaa’ “due to ‘excellent’ liquidity buffers and the ‘excellent’ credit quality of the treasury portfolio”.

Fitch also referred to the historic USD450 million Exposure Exchange Agreement CDB executed with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) in May 2025, stating that the new arrangement, which reduced the Bank’s top five borrower concentration, is responsible for improving its concentration assessment to ‹low› from ‹moderate›.