SA may escape Moody’s downgrade, but land issue weighs, economists say
SA will probably escape a junk assessment from Moody’s Investors Service this week in the first such verdict on the country’s creditworthiness since Cyril Ramaphosa came to power. The change in leadership in February from the troubled era of Jacob Zuma will allow the country to cling on to the only major investment-grade rating it has left, according to all 15 respondents in a Bloomberg survey of economists and analysts. The rand has rallied and business confidence rebounded since Ramaphosa succeeded Zuma as president of the ANC and the head of state. The risk of missing budget targets and economic growth stumbling, and the ANC’s move to pursue land expropriation without compensation may still jeopardise SA’s credit ratings. SA would fall out of gauges, including Citigroup’s World Government Bond index, it Moody’s downgrades the country’s debt to subinvestment grade, risking outflows of as much as R100bn. "We expect the ratings agency to wait to evaluate fiscal performance and polic...
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