Johannesburg - Economists have predicted another negative outlook for South Africa by Fitch following Friday’s unchanged rating by Standard & Poor’s.
Fitch will on Wednesday announce its results on the credit rating for the country following its assessment last month, when it met business, government and labour.
Read: Forget ratings, time to get to work - Gordhan
Mike Schussler of Economists.co.za and Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt said yesterday they did not expect a downgrade by Fitch on Wednesday.
They expected the outlook to remain unchanged at negative.
Schussler warned that there was still a lot of work to be done in the next six months to prevent a downgrade in December, when another review is done by rating agencies.
President Jacob Zuma has thanked all those who have worked hard to turn the situation around.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is leading a team of business people to fix the state of the economy.
A total of 90 chief executives of top companies have provided a comprehensive plan to get the country out of trouble.
Gordhan also warned of more hard work.
Roodt said he expected Fitch to give South Africa an outlook similar to that of S&P.
He said this was a window of opportunity for South Africa to get things right, adding there were three broad areas that South Africa needed to focus on in the next six months.
However, the rating by Fitch should not be a worry at this stage, as an unchanged negative outlook was expected.
Read: SA has dodged an economic bullet - DA
But the next six months would be critical to getting the economy on track.
“There are three broad categories that we need to attend to. One is how we grow the economy. If we can fix the economy and the economy grows again, then we will be sorted there,” Roodt said.
Fiscal consolidation and political certainty were two other areas that South Africa needed to focus on.
Schussler said there were a tough six months to do a few things and a few years ahead to get things right.
Peter Attard Montalto of Nomura said the time for rhetoric by the government had to come to an end.
However, he did not think the government would be able to turn rhetoric into practical, implementable action to avoid a downgrade in the next six months.
There must be serious structural reforms in the economy to avoid a downgrade, he said.
The government has been under pressure in the past three months to stave off a downgrade.
Moody’s and S&P have kept their ratings unchanged, giving South Africa a breather. But the warning bells are still there for the next six months to get the economy growing again.
Gordhan has said South Africa remained a resilient nation and the economy would grow. But he warned that there was no silver bullet.
THE STAR