{"id":33967,"date":"2026-05-07T15:32:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=33967"},"modified":"2026-05-07T15:32:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:32:51","slug":"moodys-sees-sa-debt-stabilising-as-reforms-boost-outlook","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/moodys-sees-sa-debt-stabilising-as-reforms-boost-outlook\/","title":{"rendered":"Moody&#8217;s sees SA debt stabilising as reforms boost outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">South Africa&#8217;s (SA) improving fiscal performance and reform momentum should help government debt stabilise this year before gradually declining, Moody&#8217;s \u200bRatings said in a report dated Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Moody&#8217;s said stronger revenue, \u200cspending restraint and improving funding costs supported the credit positive shift, though debt above 80% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) continued to limit the government&#8217;s ability to absorb shocks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Moody&#8217;s \u200brates SA at Ba2 with a stable outlook.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Moody&#8217;s forecast South \u200bAfrica&#8217;s general government deficit would narrow to 4.3% of GDP \u2060in 2026 and 3.8% in 2027, from 4.5% in 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Primary surplus \u200bis expected to rise to 1.8% of GDP in 2027, above its \u200bestimated 1.5% level needed to stabilise debt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">General government debt is estimated to have peaked at 86.8% of GDP in 2025 and is forecast to decline gradually to \u200b84.9% by 2028, Moody&#8217;s said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Interest payments accounted for 18.8% of general government \u200brevenue in 2025, which Moody&#8217;s said was weaker than many similarly rated peers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Moody&#8217;s said \u200cS\u2060A&#8217;s shift to a lower inflation target of 3%, with a 1 percentage point tolerance band, should help lower risk premia and funding costs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">The ratings agency expects real GDP growth to rise gradually to around \u200b2% by 2028 from \u200b0.5% in \u20602024, supported by higher investment and resilient consumption.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">It said sustained reforms in electricity, logistics and water sectors could \u200blift medium-term growth potential above 2% and help attract \u200bprivate investment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":20589,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-33967","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":"SA improving fiscal performance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33967","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\/33967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33968,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33967\/revisions\/33968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}