The conclusion of a three-year wage agreement between platinum miners and labour unions has received the thumbs-up from international credit rating agency Moody’s, which sees the deal as positive for SA’s sovereign debt rating.Moody’s has currently assigned a sovereign Baa2 negative rating, which is two notches above speculative or "junk" grade. It is due to review the rating this month.S&P Global Ratings and Fitch will review SA in December. S&P ranks the sovereign (BBB, with a negative outlook) on the lowest investment grade rating. Fitch has assigned a BBB — with stable outlook to SA. A downgrade to junk would raise borrowing costs and increase inflation.On Monday the New York-based agency said the wage agreement was positive both for SA and platinum mining companies "because it avoids a strike and the loss of platinum production, which would have eroded mining companies’ profits and the government’s tax collection".Weak platinum prices are affecting mining companies. The Nationa...
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