FOOTNOTES
HILARY JOFFE: SA joins bad boys in the hood as ratings agency gives growth rate a black mark
Unless South Africa can fix its low growth, the neighbourhood could get worse
We are no longer in a very nice neighbourhood when it comes to ratings. After Friday night’s downgrade by S&P Global Ratings, SA is in exactly the same ratings neighbourhood as Turkey – whose government recently extended a state of emergency for the fifth time, which has resulted in more than 50,000 people being arrested and whose institutions S&P politely describes as "weak". Like Turkey, SA now has a double B foreign currency rating, which is two notches below investment grade, and a local currency rating that is one notch above that at double B-plus. However, unlike Turkey, which is on negative outlook, S&P put SA on stable outlook – so no more downgrades for now. Then there’s Brazil, which has come out of two years of deep recession, has a government debt burden that makes SA’s look amateurish and where, in S&P’s words, "ongoing corruption investigations have become part of Brazil’s political landscape". At least they prosecute their corrupt leaders.Brazil’s rating, too, is on n...
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