CAPE TOWN - Ratings agencies Fitch, Moody’s and S&P Global all applauded South Africa’s budget where the Treasury raised value added tax for the first time in over two decades and announced plans to dramatically reduce its debt, a senior official said on Thursday.
“We engaged with Fitch and Moody’s and S&P. Their preliminary view was that we did well,” Director General Dondo Mogajane told a parliamentary committee, saying the department had spoken telephonically to the agencies after the budget speech was delivered on Wednesday.
Fitch and S&P’s cut the country’s local debt rating to subinvestment in 2017, while Moody’s is due to announce a decision in March.
In response to Gigaba’s speech, Glenn Gillis, owner of innovation company Sea Monster, focuses on the proposals put forward to fix the economy and bring back investors:
“It’s great to see the new government prioritising competitiveness internationally. There’s a real opportunity for us to compete globally with knowledge-intensive products. The creative industry specifically has demonstrated an ability to not only create jobs but create real value locally and internationally and we think this is one sector of the economy that should be prioritised.