Economics

Fitch Warns South African Debt Stabilization Remains a Challenge

  • Ratings company expects government debt to continue rising
  • Eskom to need some 150 billion rand in further support: Fitch
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Fitch Ratings warned debt stabilization in South Africa will remain a challenge as it maintained its stable outlook on the country’s sub-investment grade credit rating.

The company affirmed South Africa’s long-term foreign-currency rating at BB-, three levels into junk status, in a statement late Thursday. The decision reflected lower than previously anticipated government debt last year and improved metrics such as the current-account balance, partly due to higher prices for commodity exports, it said.