{"id":7030,"date":"2012-01-13T20:41:05","date_gmt":"2012-01-13T18:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/01\/update-1-fitch-cuts-s-africas-outlook-to-negative\/"},"modified":"2012-01-13T20:41:05","modified_gmt":"2012-01-13T18:41:05","slug":"update-1-fitch-cuts-s-africas-outlook-to-negative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/update-1-fitch-cuts-s-africas-outlook-to-negative\/","title":{"rendered":"UPDATE 1-Fitch cuts S.Africa’s outlook to negative"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

(Adds analyst comments, details, background)<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

By Xola Potelwa<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

JOHANNESBURG<\/span> Jan 13 (Reuters) – Fitch cut South
\nAfrica’s rating outlook to negative on Friday, saying it had
\nseen limited progress on several long-standing structural issues
\nthat had caused Africa’s biggest economy to fall behind its
\npeers.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Fitch, which has a BBB+ rating on South Africa, said the
\ninability to create jobs in an economy with 25 percent
\nunemployment was putting pressure on growth and narrowing the
\ntax base.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

While South Africa’s external finances were still in better
\nshape than its peers they were deteriorating and a failure to
\naccelerate growth would weaken credit fundamentals, Fitch said
\nafter cutting its outlook on the rating from stable.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The rand fell 2 percent against the dollar to a
\none-week low of 8.21 after the move, while South Africa’s 5-year
\ncredit default swaps rose 10 basis points.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

After Fitch’s announcement, South Africa’s Treasury said
\nthat it was committed to prudent execution of growth and
\nemployment policies. The country’s fiscal framework would remain
\nrobust over the medium term, it said.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Some analysts said they did not expect the move to lead to a
\ndowngrade of South Africa’s rating.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“I don’t think anything in South Africa has changed to
\njustify the Fitch move. They are picking up on noise. It is
\nnoise in South Africa and heightened sensitivity globally,” said
\nInvestec economist Annabel Bishop.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Adds analyst comments, details, background) By Xola Potelwa JOHANNESBURG Jan 13 (Reuters) – Fitch cut South Africa’s rating outlook to negative on Friday, saying it had seen limited progress on several long-standing structural issues that had caused Africa’s biggest economy to fall behind its peers. Fitch, which has a BBB+ rating on South Africa, said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-7030","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7030\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}