South Africa: The government hopes to avoid the degradation of … – Zonebourse.com

Johannesburg – South Africa has avoided the downgrade of its debt despite a record unemployment rate to 26.7% in the first quarter of 2016, said Monday the Minister of the Presidency Jeff Radebe

“Our economy, which is currently at its weakest pace of growth since the global economic crisis of 2008 can recover and will recover,” assured Jeff Radebe reporters in Johannesburg.

the south African economy, particularly based on mining, idle for several years because of the fall in prices of raw materials.

the latest forecast of the International monetary Fund (IMF), the South African growth should not exceed 0.6% this year

Two credit rating agencies, S & amp;. P and Fitch, must reassess the rating of South Africa on next month.

in early December, Fitch had downgraded by one notch the country’s rating to BBB-, just one notch above speculative categories, mainly because of lower growth.

last week, Moody’s maintained the country’s rating, two levels above speculative categories, but lowered its outlook from “stable” to “negative”.

“We remain optimistic that S & amp;. P and Fitch will not lower our rating and make us fall in the categories + risk +, “said Jeff Radebe

Questioned by AFP, the minister assured that the South Africa would “weather the storm” current economic.

“We have not lost our momentum, so Moody’s maintained our bill. This shows that our economy can withstand the global slowdown and domestic challenges, “he said.

On Monday morning, the National Bureau of StatsSA Statistics released the latest unemployment figures for the first quarter 2016, a new record in the number of unemployed persons.

“There are 521,000 new unemployed, bringing the unemployment rate to 26.7%”, against 24.5% last quarter 2015, according to StatsSA.

for several months, the south African President Jacob Zuma is under fire from critics for both its deemed disastrous economic management by the opposition parties for the corruption scandals in which it is involved.

If Jeff Radebe for “many” can be done to “improve the image of South Africa”, “all the ills of the country should not be attributed to a single person. “

in addition to the opposition, several figures of the struggle against apartheid demanded his resignation, but Jacob Zuma retains at the confidence of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ) which has an overwhelming majority in parliament.