In May, Moody’s Investor Services affirmed South Africa’s government bond long and short term ratings of Baa2 with a negative outlook and P-2, respectively.
Government has said that it has done what it could to avert a ratings downgrade.
Answering oral questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday, President Jacob Zuma said government has taken steps to satisfy the concerns expressed by ratings agencies.
“I believe we have indeed done a lot, working together, to create favourable conditions for economic growth and to stave off any downgrade,” he said.
He said ratings agencies form part of many monitoring mechanisms that encourage the country to improve governance in both the public and private sectors.
President Zuma said government has forged partnerships with business and labour to come up with initiatives aimed at reigniting growth and improving the global competitiveness of the country.
Ahead of the rating agency’s arrival in South Africa earlier this month, Finance Deputy Minister Mcebisi Jonas said the country must preserve its sovereign credit rating.
Speaking at the 2016 Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals (ABSIP) Financial Service Conference in Johannesburg, the Deputy Minister said South Africa needs to build a faster growing and more inclusive economy.
Following the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago said the bank expects better growth going forward.
At the July repo rate announcement, the central bank said it expects 0% economic growth.
However, this changed to 0.4% growth at the September announcement.
“The Bank’s forecast for economic growth for 2016 has been revised upward from 0% to 0.4%. The forecasts for the next two years have been increased marginally by 0.1 percentage points to 1.2% and 1.6 % respectively,” Kganyago said on Thursday.