SOVEREIGN CREDIT RATINGS
SA part of world trend towards negative outlooks from S&P
With just seven nations on positive outlooks, the ratings agency expects downgrades to outstrip upgrades in the next 12 months
SA is one of 30 countries that have entered the new year with a negative outlook on their sovereign credit rating from S&P Global Ratings. With just seven nations on positive outlooks, the ratings agency expects downgrades to outstrip upgrades in the next 12 months. "This ratio remains at the lowest level it has ever been," S&P MD and chief rating officer of sovereign ratings Moritz Kraemer said. The decline in the average sovereign rating was due to deteriorating credit quality, as well as "fallen angels", such as Azerbaijan, Bahamas or Bahrain, which had slipped from investment grade to speculative grade in 2016, Kraemer said. That a large number of the new sovereign ratings had been assigned to developing economies and were in the lower rating categories also brought down the average, Kraemer said. A B rating — a speculative or subinvestment grade— has been given to 37 sovereigns. This group had remained the largest over the past decade, S&P said. The number of AAA-rated sovereig...
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