Treasury is being candid with rating agencies, says Malusi Gigaba
Treasury will talk to the agencies after Gigaba’s medium-term budget presentation, and in the coming weeks
Minister of Finance Malusi Gigaba told reporters ahead of his medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) that Treasury would meet ratings agencies after his speech to Parliament as well as in the coming weeks, to discuss the economy and SA’s credit rating. Gigaba said his speech looked to portray a “candid” picture of the state of affairs in the South African economy. Rating agencies have downgraded the country’s credit ratings in the past year. SA recently crawled out of a technical recession but the growth forecast for this year has been slashed, by Treasury, the Reserve Bank and other institutions including the IMF. Gigaba told reporters earlier on Wednesday that the fiscal framework was at risk of a R3.9bn breach, and the impact of this would be “severe”. Asked whether he was concerned about further rating downgrades, Gigaba said the rating agencies had been communicating closely with Treasury on the state of the economy and this would continue in the lead-up to the February bu...
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