The rating agency Fitch recently revised the outlook on South Africa's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating down from "stable" to "negative". A credit rating outlook indicates the potential direction of the country's rating over the intermediate term, typically six months.
Fitch pointed to the expected increase in the government debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio. This would make it more difficult to stabilise public debt. The country's public debt has been increasing due to lower-than-projected tax revenue growth on the back of weak economic growth and the R59bn bailout for the power utility, Eskom.
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