S Africa’s rating still vulnerable

JOHANNESBURG: Standard & Poor's decision to maintain South Africa's investment grade credit rating has taken some pressure off President Jacob Zuma ahead of elections in August, although analysts said the country is still vulnerable to a downgrade to "junk" status.

S&P kept its negative outlook on South Africa's BBB- rating after a review on Friday, warning a downgrade to "junk" status could be on the cards later this year, or the next if policy measures did not turn around an ailing economy expected to grow by 0.9 percent at most in 2016.Zuma, in a statement on Saturday, said the S&P review was the result of "the sterling work that has been done over the last few months to turn our economy around".

"The decision ... which follows on the footsteps of yet another encouraging decision by Moody´s demonstrates that working together we can reignite our economy, attract investment and create jobs for our people," he added.

S&P, Moody´s and peer Fitch, whose own review is expected in the next few days, have all warned of possible cuts to South Africa´s credit standing after Zuma rattled investors by changing finance ministers twice in less than a week in December.