{"id":15282,"date":"2025-11-14T11:19:42","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T09:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-eyes-first-ratings-upgrade-in-nearly-two-decades\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:27:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:27:34","slug":"sa-eyes-first-ratings-upgrade-in-nearly-two-decades","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-eyes-first-ratings-upgrade-in-nearly-two-decades\/","title":{"rendered":"SA eyes first ratings upgrade in nearly two decades"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"x_divRplyFwdMsg\">\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">South Africa (SA) could secure its first credit rating upgrade in nearly two decades on Friday when Standard and Poor (S&amp;P) Global delivers its latest sovereign rating decision, amid investor optimism over its reform efforts.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Since 2020, SA has been rated as sub-investment grade or &#8220;junk&#8221; by all three major rating agencies.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Analysts, however, now see grounds for an upgrade by S&amp;P to &#8216;BB&#8217; from &#8216;BB-&#8216;, citing fiscal consolidation and policy improvements.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>If realised, the new rating would still be two notches below investment grade.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>An eventual return to investment grade could pave the way for billions of inflows of investor money into Africa&#8217;s biggest economy.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">Goldman Sachs and\u00a0JPMorgan\u00a0highlighted key metrics supporting an upgrade, including a contained peak in national debt, three consecutive years of primary budget surpluses, and the formal adoption of a 3% inflation target.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We think that fiscal improvements, along with slightly stronger recent growth, will warrant a sovereign rating upgrade by S&amp;P,&#8221; said Andrew Matheny of Goldman Sachs International.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Investor optimism lifted the Rand to its strongest levels since early 2023 this week, while local bond yields fell to multi-year lows.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Additionally, credit default swaps, a barometer of default risk, tightened as investors welcomed the stronger fiscal framework.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12528,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-15282","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":null,"news_description":"SA could secure its first credit rating upgrade in nearly two decades on Friday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19587,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15282\/revisions\/19587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=15282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}