Lesetja Kganyago: Sovereign rating downgrades and their impact on the poor

Keynote address by Mr Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, at SAICA's Courageous Conversation Session, Johannesburg, 26 September 2017.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Central bank speech  | 
27 September 2017
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 |  10 pages

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

The sovereign ratings of South Africa, which are the key theme of my speech this evening, have been a prominent concern for policymakers and investors alike in recent years, and will again feature heavily in policy discussions as the year-end approaches. Following the gradual and regular improvement in our country's sovereign ratings from the advent of democracy to the mid-2000s, which saw South Africa regain investment-grade status, South Africa's credit standing has again deteriorated in recent years.