South Africa's fiscal deficits declining 'faster than expected' - S&P Global
South Africa's fiscal deficits are declining slightly faster than initial expectations, but slow progress on the rollout of coronavirus vaccines and structural reforms will continue to hamper progress, ratings firm S&P Global said on Thursday.
S&P affirmed South Africa's sovereign rating of BB-, or three notches below the investment grade, and kept a stable outlook.
In a presentation during a live webinar, S&P said the 2021 economy performance had been boosted by a "cyclical uplift" driven by higher global commodity prices as well as base effects after the downturn due to last year's Covid-19 outbreak.
South Africa's treasury in the February budget estimated a fiscal, or budget, deficit of 14% in the 2020/21 financial year, and pencilled in a 9.3% shortfall for the 2021/22 fiscal year. Debt, as a portion of gross domestic product, was seen at 81.9% and 85.1% respectively.
S&P trimmed its own forecasts, seeing the budget deficit at 11.2% in the fiscal year ended in March and at only -8.9% in 2021/22. It sees debt-to-GDP at 80.9% in 2021.
The upswing in global commodity prices in late 2020 and into 2021 saw South Africa - the world's largest exporter of platinum metal groups and other commodities like copper, coal and gold - record massive trade surpluses, boosting tax revenues.
The ratings firm sees economic growth at 3.6% in 2021, but warned this might be undermined by the slow rollout of Covid-19 vaccines.
South Africa has been the hardest hit by the virus on the continent, with well over 1.5 million confirmed cases and more than 50,000 deaths. The country has so far only vaccinated close to 1.2 million people, mostly health workers and the elderly.
Article Enquiry
Email Article
Save Article
Feedback
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Supplier & Distributor of the Widest Range of Accurate & Easy-to-Use Alcohol Breathalysers
VISIT SHOWROOM
From batteries for boats and jet skis, to batteries for cars and quad bikes, SABAT Batteries has positioned itself as the lifestyle battery of...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
