Gigaba: 'I knew we were going to be downgraded'
'The reason I didn't take you into my confidence is because they had taken me into their confidence. I had to afford them the courtesy of not divulging the information'
In spite of saying that a single individual could not bring down a country's credit rating‚ finance minister Malusi Gigaba said he knew that S&p would downgrade SA'S sovereign outlook on Friday. Following the shock of S&P's credit rating downgrade that left SA on junk status with a negative outlook‚ Gigaba addressed the media at National Treasury on Tuesday following a briefing with former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. "When I spoke on Saturday I indicated that I had spoken to Moody’s and Fitch. S&P had already made the decision on Friday and there was nothing we could do to change that‚" said Gigaba. "The reason I didn't take you into my confidence is because they had taken me into their confidence. I had to afford them the courtesy of not divulging the information." He said it was a matter of ethics. "South Africa has R2.2 trillion in public debt. R20 billion of this debt is paid in foreign currency‚" said Gigaba. Yesterday‚ S&P lowered this debt to below investment grade. The ...
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