The National Treasury has welcomed credit rating agency Fitch’s decision to upgrade South Africa’s long-term foreign and local currency credit ratings to ‘BB’ from ‘BB-’ and to maintain its stable outlook.

The upgrade reflects South Africa’s record of prudent fiscal management and its progress on fiscal consolidation, despite weak economic growth and domestic and external shocks.

This, together with GDP revisions, leaves the government debt-to-GDP ratio well below levels anticipated at the time of the rating downgrade to ‘BB-’ in 2020.

This is Fitch’s first rating upgrade on South Africa in almost 21 years. South Africa is the second Group of 20 country to be upgraded by Fitch this year, Treasury notes.

According to Fitch, South Africa has transitioned from primary fiscal deficits to consistent and widening primary surpluses, alongside signs that government debt is stabilising amid improved revenue collection and disciplined expenditure management.

The long average-maturity of total government debt, at more than ten years, and low share of foreign-currency-denominated debt support the sovereign rating, it adds.

Fitch also points to ongoing reforms in the energy and logistics sectors that are expected to support economic growth in coming years as reason for the upgrade, says Treasury.

Credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings upgraded South Africa’s rating by one notch in November 2025 and credit rating agency Moody’s put the country's rating on a positive outlook.

All three major rating agencies now have South Africa on ‘BB’ or ‘Ba2’, which is two levels below investment grade. Moody’s and S&P have the sovereign on a positive outlook, which indicates they could upgrade their ratings within 12 to 18 months.

Government remains committed to sound public finances and to implementing structural reforms that will support higher and more inclusive economic growth and underpin investor confidence, says Treasury director-general Dr Duncan Pieterse.

“Improved sovereign credit ratings help to lower borrowing costs for government, businesses and households and have tangible benefits for ordinary people.

“South Africa still has some way to go to regain its investment-grade credit rating but, for the first time in more than a decade, we are seeing a clear turnaround in the downward ratings trend. The turnaround is especially notable because it comes at a time when the global sovereign credit trend is overwhelmingly negative,” he says.

“Fiscal policy continues to focus on achieving its twin objectives of stabilising and then reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio, by running a growing primary budget surplus where revenue exceeds nonexpenditure by an ever-wider margin. This will put government’s debt level on a more sustainable path.

“We will embed this principle in a fiscal anchor, which we expect will be announced in the 2026 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement,” Pieterse says.