Rand pummelled after Moody’s review

JOHANNESBURG – The rand took further blows yesterday as Moody’s revised the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth outlook downwards for 2020 further, despite offering South Africa an olive branch.

Moody’s said it was likely to change the country’s negative rating outlook to stable, if the government consolidated its finances and growth ticked up.

However, Moody’s emphasised that structural issues remained largely unaddressed in South Africa.

“We would likely change the rating outlook to stable if the government consolidated its finances in line with our baseline expectations; growth picked up slowly but durably; and financing risks remained limited,” Moody’s said.

“In this scenario, we would see increasing assurance that primary deficits would narrow and debt would stabilise below 90percent of GDP.”