South Africa: Moody’s credit rating review in focus - TDS

Analysts at TDS point out that today Moody's will review South Africa's sovereign ratings as Moody's currently has a Baa3 rating on both the FC (foreign currency) and LC (local currency) debt, but put the ratings on review for downgrade on 24 November 2017.

Key Quotes

“S&P has ratings of BB and BB+ with stable outlook on FC and LC debt respectively. Fitch has FC and LC debt ratings both of BB+ with stable outlook. We think that Moody's will leave all its rating unchanged, taking South Africa off negative credit watch but setting the outlook to negative. The February budget budget presented a significantly better picture of South Africa's finances than the fairly awful October 2017 MTBPS. There are also signs of growth picking up. And Moody's will want to wait and see whether the optimism is misplaced or not that Cyril Ramaphosa may end an era of scandal-ridden governments in South Africa and rescue an economy battling to recover from a recession.”