Rand down 40% since start-2020 as Fitch packs a punch
It is certainly not any good news on the currency front at this stage. The rand is now almost 40% weaker against the US dollar than at the start of 2020.
It is certainly not any good news on the currency front at this stage. The rand is now almost 40% weaker against the US dollar than at the start of 2020.
Azar Jammine frets that the fresh evidence of political turmoil in SA may trigger the last of the three ratings agencies to report, S&P, to drop the country’s debt to junk on Friday.
We hope for the best on SA’s credit rating. But as with the Springboks against Wales tomorrow, it is hard not to fear the worst.
With Treasury facing increasing heightened criticism, some ruling party politicians have set their sights on the nation’s second pillar of financial stability: the Reserve Bank.
Cosatu says Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s statements that the government is close to announcing reforms to labour legislation are premature.
Brian Kantor looks at the markets reaction post the S&P decision to maintain South Africa’s credit rating, and asks if there’s more favour to be shown.
Ratings agency Fitch affirmed South Africa’s investment grade credit on Wednesday, but it warned that political and growth concerns should be addressed.
Jaw-jaw is always preferable to war-war. So it is heartening for the South African economy that its two key protagonists, Zuma and Gordhan, met for an extended discussion yesterday.
Standard & Poor’s decision to maintain South Africa’s investment grade credit rating has taken some pressure off President Jacob Zuma ahead of August elections, although analysts said the country is still vulnerable to a downgrade to “junk” status.
S&P will only deliver another scheduled in six months time, which gives the country time to right the economic and political wrongs, but Fitch is the next credit rating hurdle.