Godongwana sees exit from junk status by 2027

South African may be able to regain an investment-grade credit rating within two years, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said.

The nation obtained a full house of junk ratings in 2020, when Moody’s Ratings downgraded its debt assessment, leaving it without an investment-grade assessment for the first time in 25 years. The Moody’s decision added to cuts by Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings in 2017.

The government is focused on implementing structural reforms to lift South Africa’s potential economic growth rate, Godongwana said in an interview with Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“As long as we have not turned around the growth outlook, the ratings agencies will still be skeptical about us,” the minister said in a separate interview with South Africa’s state broadcaster in Davos. “That is why we are working hard on structural reforms,” such as in the logistics and telecommunications sector, to transform growth, he said. “Once we see that growth in numbers, you will see the ratings agencies change.”

Economic growth in South Africa has averaged less than 1% in the past decade and is predicted at 1.7% this year and 2% in 2026, according to a median estimate of 20 economists in a Bloomberg survey.

Research commissioned by Business Unity South Africa shows it could reach more than 3% if Africa’s largest economy expedites reforms, achieves operational improvements at Transnet and Eskom, and swiftly mobilizes private sector investment.

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