Standard Bank responds to Moody’s downgrade
Standard Bank notes the action taken by Moody’s rating agency to downgrade South Africa’s sovereign credit rating to Ba1 from Baa3. While the downgrade was almost inevitable in the circumstances, it is still disappointing and comes at a challenging time for the country. In the face of a low growth and high government debt environment, South Africa is trying to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Lungisa Fuzile, Standard Bank South Africa Chief Executive, says: “Unfortunately the progress made by the government in addressing some of the growth and governance concerns has been surpassed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The global economic outlook has deteriorated significantly, which will in turn exacerbate South Africa’s economic and fiscal challenges. The next few months will be very challenging for every South African. Our immediate responsibility is to support the government’s containment initiatives, including providing essential banking services. We need to flatten the curve of the pandemic so that we can return to work to repair and then grow our economy. The nation should continue to focus on putting a stop to the spread of COVID-19. We should also ready ourselves for the post-COVID-19 recovery and reconstruction which must necessarily entail an acceleration of structural reforms on a broad scale,” says Fuzile.