Fitch negative rating: Urgent action needed by new Finance Minister
13 June 2014
The Fitch Ratings revised outlook of the South African economy from "stable" to "negative" must serve as an urgent wake-up call for the new Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene.
Unless he wants to be remembered as the Minister who escorted South Africa into an economic recession, he must act immediately to assert the National Development Plan (NDP) as the only economic blue-print for South Africa, and begin implementing its recommendations without delay.
Indeed, the policy inconsistency and lack of leadership needs to come to an end immediately.
The poor track record of some key ministerial appointments, shortcomings in the country's administrative capacity, according to the agency, will continue to expose South Africa to further downside risks - this is worsened by bulging government debt expected to peak at 50% of GDP by 2016.