Economics
Zuma's Policy Jam Caught in Headlights as Debt Hovers Above Junk
- Growth at 6-year low, rates at 2010 high compound SARB dilemma
- Credit downgrade by Fitch, outlook cut by S&P add to quandary
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If investors needed reminding about the quandary facing South Africa’s central bank, they just got it from two credit-rating companies.
While statements on Dec. 4 from Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings left the country’s debt short of a downgrade to junk, both companies gave the same diagnosis for South Africa’s economic malaise: government policies that are denting business confidence and the likelihood of state funding or guarantees that will further strain the budget of President Jacob Zuma’s administration.