Ramaphosa gets Moody’s backing
The ratings agency awaits planned reforms
Moody’s Investors Service has given President Cyril Ramaphosa the benefit of the doubt but the clock is ticking for the implementation of his promised structural reforms if a later downgrade is to be avoided. The credit ratings agency did not release a scheduled report on SA’s sovereign credit rating on Friday. SA’s debt is rated at Baa3 by the agency, one notch above junk status, with a stable outlook. Moody’s has two scheduled review dates a year but is under no obligation to issue a report. With less than six weeks to go until the elections, analysts said Moody’s had figured it was too soon to decide whether Ramaphosa would be able to take the hard decisions necessary to turn the economy around. Structural reforms include: splitting Eskom into three entities and creating an independent systems operator; rebalancing public finances towards investment; and reform of state-owned enterprises. "They’ve stipulated quite adamantly that while they have two scheduled dates, they don’t hav...
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