Monday, January 22, 2024
Government has noted Fitch’s decision to affirm South Africa’s longterm foreign and local currency debt ratings at ‘BB-’ and maintain the stable outlook.
According to Fitch, South Africa‘s credit rating is constrained by low real Coarse Domestic Product (GDP) growth, high level of inequality, a high and rising government debt-to-GDP ratio, and a modest path of fiscal consolidation. Growth is hampered by power shortages and a struggling logistic sector.
“Over the medium term, government will focus on raising GDP growth by improving the provision of electricity, logistics and enhancing the delivery of infrastructure. Fiscal policy continues to support this approach by stabilising debt and debt-service costs,” the National Treasury said.
Fitch said the ratings are supported by a favourable debt structure with long maturities and denominated mostly in local currency, strong institutions as well as a credible monetary policy framework.
The agency estimates that load shedding will reduce in intensity in 2024 and 2025 compared with 2023 but will not disappear. More capacity is expected to near from private-sector investments.
“Government reiterates that fiscal consolidation will be implemented through spending reductions, efficiency measures across government and moderate tax revenue measures,” National Treasury said. – SAnews.gov.za
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Heavenly Connection
So I\’m real good friends with this guy named Juan Ted. Now, Juan is a pretty unbelievable guy. He can steal ANYTHING he wants to. Literally anything. It could be the shirt off your back, the wallet in your pocket, or I\’m even sure he\’d find a way to steal your house (And your spouse too). So anyway, one day Juan and I are sitting around watching TV, and they announced that the hope diamond will not be on display anymore and is now getting moved to an undisclosed location. So as we hear this, Juan says \”I\’m gonna steal it\”. Now I know how good Juan is at this kind of stuff, so I just tell him good luck and he goes on his way. Eventually he narrows his search down to a small cave in South Africa. When Juan gets there, he doesn\’t see any guards or anything outside the cave, so he just walks in assuming he was wrong about where the diamond was. He wanders around for a while until he sees a long lit hallway with the hope diamond at the end of it. Confident in his abilities, he strolls over to the diamond and picks it up before realizing its a trap! Suddenly, red lights flashed, armed men came running out, sirens went off. You could hear one of the men say under his breath \”We finally caught Juan Ted.\” But Juan, being the best thief in the world, said \”Not quite. On the count of three, I will disappear.\” As the men looked around confused, Juan began to count. \”Uno. Dos.\” And he disappeared without a tres.
Spunky Sphinx
Fun South African Fact: South Africa is part of BRICS.