There has been much hype that South Africa could follow Zambia and ‘fall off the fiscal cliff’ or renege on its sovereign debt. In this regard, it is helpful, and perhaps comforting, to note that only about 10% of the government’s current issued bonds are denominated in foreign currency.
Colonialism brought large-scale farming to Africa, promising modernisation and jobs – but often dispossessing people and exploiting workers. Now, after several decades of independence, and with investor interest growing, African governments are once again promoting large plantations and estates. But the new corporate interest in African agriculture has been criticised as a “land grab(link is external)”.
Last Friday both Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investor Services downgraded South Africa’s sovereign risk rating by a further notch each, pushing the country yet further into junk status. South Africa is now at ‘its lowest credit rating levels…since 1994’, said the Treasury in its reaction.
Choking up with emotion at times, scientist Nicolette Forbes took to Zoom last week to urge critics to allow nature – not bulldozers – to heal Lake St Lucia, the largest estuarine lake in South Africa and symbolic battleground between developers and conservationists.
South Africa sunk deeper into junk territory on Friday (20 November) after Moody’s Investors Service joined Fitch Ratings in lowering the country’s credit ratings.
One of the biggest lenders to South African farmers can’t take on new clients or meet half the needs of existing customers until it gets another government bailout to keep operating.
