Don't blame me for junk status, says Gigaba
'Downgrade will not be due to Cabinet reshuffle'
Moody's might downgrade South Africa's sovereign credit rating in coming weeks despite the best efforts of the Treasury, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said this week. Such a downgrade to subinvestment status - which could knock South Africa off further world bond indices while raising government, private sector and consumer borrowing costs - is Gigaba's next looming challenge as much as his concern to steer the country on a path of economic growth and a return to investment grade status. "If Moody's takes a decision to downgrade us it would not be because we have failed to convince them," he said."It would be because they are saying they are still not sure about whether we are going to have growth in the South African economy, about whether the uncertainties at policy level are going to be addressed, about whether the South African government is going to maintain fiscal discipline." A downgrade by Moody's "cannot be about the [cabinet] reshuffle because that has happened", Gigaba s...
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