Government says it remains committed to sound public finances and to implementing structural reforms that will support higher and more inclusive economic growth.

Its comments come after Fitch’s decision to upgrade South Africa’s long-term foreign and local currency credit ratings to ‘BB’ from ‘BB-’ and maintain the stable outlook.

According to Fitch, the upgrade reflects the country’s record of prudent fiscal management and its progress on fiscal consolidation, despite
weak economic growth and domestic and external shocks.

In a statement, the National Treasury says improved sovereign credit ratings help to lower borrowing costs for government, businesses and
households.

Treasury’s Director-General Dr Duncan Pieterse says, “South Africa still has some way to go to regain its investment grade credit rating, but for the first time in more than a decade, we are seeing a clear turnaround in the downward ratings trend. The turnaround is especially notable because it comes at a time when the global sovereign credit trend is overwhelmingly negative.”

Pieterse says, “Fiscal policy continues to focus on achieving its twin objectives of stabilising and then reducing the debt to GDP ratio, by running a growing primary budget surplus, where revenue exceeds non expenditure by an ever-wider margin.”

He says, “This will put government’s debt level on a more sustainable path. We will embed this principle in a fiscal anchor, details of which we expect to announce in the 2026 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement.”

VIDEO | Fitch upgrades SA’s credit ratings:

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