Credit outlook |

South Africa’s Escape From Junk Seen Short-Lived Without GDP Pickup

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s chances of repeating its escape from a junk credit rating in 2017 are in the balance as focus intensifies on tepid economic growth and simmering political tensions. S&P Global Ratings kept its assessment of the nation’s foreign-currency debt at one level above non-investment grade on Dec. 2. S&P’s affirmation followed a similar move by Fitch Ratings Ltd., while Moody’s Investors Service rates the debt one level higher. The reprieve may…

Moody’s keeps South Africa’s sovereign rating at Baa2, negative outlook

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Credit ratings firm Moody’s Investors Service kept South Africa’s sovereign rating unchanged at Baa2 on Friday, two levels above subinvestment grade, with a negative outlook. Africa’s most industrialised country, which is expected to see economic growth of around 0.5 percent half a percent this year, has been trying to avert a sovereign rating downgrade to junk status that would raise borrowing costs and deter investment. “The negative outlook on South…

South Africa doing well if you strip out growth, Moody’s Says

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa measures favourably in most indices bar economic growth, which the Treasury has forecast will be 0.5 percent this year, a Moody’s representative said on Tuesday. Moody’s rates South Africa two notches above sub investment grade with a negative outlook and is due to publish its next review in December. Fellow ratings firms S&P’s and Fitch have the country just a step above junk. The three agencies have…

South Africa can avoid credit downgrades , Finance Minister says

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa is making progress towards avoiding rating downgrades despite the economy not growing fast enough, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan told a trade union gathering on Wednesday a week before reading his mid-term budget speech. Ratings agencies have warned they could cut the country’s credit rating to “junk” by year-end if the country does not lift growth to at least 1 percent annually. “As a country we have to understand…

Kenya Credit Rating upgrade to stable from negative by Standard and Poors

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Global ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has upgraded Kenya’s credit outlook to stable from negative, citing sustained economic growth, reduced political tension and stabilising public debt. S&P’s move to upgrade the credit outlook bodes well for the government when it moves to borrow from the international market to plug the gaping budget deficit of Sh689 billion in the current fiscal year. In its previous sovereign update on Kenya…

South African Rating Cut a Serious Risk, De Beers CEO Says

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JOHANNESBURG, Capital Markets in Africa: South Africa is in deep danger of losing its investment-grade credit rating and needs to reassure investors of its commitment to regulatory certainty and fiscal stability, said Bruce Cleaver, the chief executive officer of De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer. “South Africa is in a slightly difficult place right now,” Cleaver said in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum in New York on Wednesday. “I think the threat of…

South Africa Treasury Doubt Risks Confidence, Moody’s Says

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Johannesburg, Capital Markets in Africa: Uncertainty about the leadership at South Africa’s National Treasury and political infighting are eating into investor confidence and present the greatest risks to the nation’s credit rating, Moody’s Investors Service said. “Rising political infighting and the uncertainty about continuity of leadership at the National Treasury have been creating policy uncertainty,” the company said in an e-mailed report Thursday. “We view the greatest risk to South Africa’s creditworthiness, moderate but rising, as…

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