South Africa, currently rated below investment grade with a stable outlook by the major rating agencies, aims to regain an investment-grade credit rating by 2027, and can do this if it successfully implements structural reforms and manages its debt, which will enable the country to achieve sustainable economic growth, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Godongwana reportedly emphasized that demonstrable growth improvement will convince ratings agencies to revise their assessments.
"As long as we have not turned around the growth outlook, the ratings agencies will still be skeptical about us. […] That is why we are working hard on structural reforms. […] Once we see that growth in numbers, you will see the ratings agencies change," local media quoted the minister as saying.
Debt service cost is also a major problem for achieving sustainable growth, the official told a South African broadcaster.
"The debt service cost is such an important factor. […] We are paying more debt and less money for infrastructure, so we need to make sure that we can manage the debt situation, so that we are able to realize some more revenues and more resources to fund infrastructure—that's the delicate balance we're trying to achieve at the moment," he noted.
South Africa fell to junk status in terms of credit rating in 2020 after Moody's Ratings, a US company assigning credit ratings, downgraded the country's debt assessment.