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Radebe lauds 'Team SA' for dodging downgrade

Pretoria – Team SA has presented a “united front” which has helped South Africa maintain its sovereign credit rating, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe said on Friday.

Radebe, who is also the chairperson of the National Planning Committee (NPC), was speaking at the final post cabinet media briefing for the year in Pretoria. 

In recent weeks, rating agencies Moody's, Fitch and Standard & Poor's maintained South Africa's sovereign credit rating. Moody’s rating remained at Baa2 with a negative outlook.

Fitch however, maintained their rating at BBB- but downgraded the outlook from stable to negative. S&P kept the sovereign rating at BBB- but downgraded the local currency.

READ: Junk breather for SA, but S&P lowers local currency rating

In response to a question on Cabinet’s plans to stave off a potential credit downgrade to junk status next year, Radebe said the work continues.

“Team SA, which was appointed by the president, has not stopped work. It will continue. The partnership is very valuable to the government.

"There is a united front as we have seen on many occasions where the minister of finance, representatives of business are always working together to ensure we are on track." 

He added that maintaining investment grade was not solely a government issue.

“Government, business, labour and all of us need to put our shoulder to the wheel so that we should not have a downgrade.”

Radebe commended Team SA for stabilising the economy and investor confidence. He said these actions should motivate South Africans to "work harder to move the country forward”.

Political uncertainty was among the issues raised by rating agencies Moody’s, Fitch and S&P. Radebe said these concerns were noted and that interventions are in place to fast track a turnaround.

Interventions include the National Development Plan, government’s planned fiscal consolidation and the implementation of the nine-point plan to stimulate economic growth, said Radebe.

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