LETTER: Moody’s should stay out of politics
By postponing its decision again, the agency has given the ANC a certain win in the polls, delaying the inevitable
Reading that Moody’s once again skipped a decision to downgrade SA’s credit rating makes me wonder what its end game is. These agencies are supposed to give decisions based on a country’s fundamentals: its political stability, policy certainty, structural reforms, public finances, growth projections and the health of the economy. They are not meant to play politics. By postponing again the decision, all Moody’s did was give the ANC a certain win in the polls in May and postpone the inevitable. I wonder if there is an ulterior motive, or the ANC somehow has them in their pockets. The government needs to be put under pressure to implement measures to improve the economy and pull us up from the quagmire. Unfortunately, by giving us “breathing space”, as some economists stated, all Moody’s has done is give an incompetent government more rope to hang itself and the country. The further the economy slides, the harder it will eventually be to pick up the pieces and solve the new problems t...
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