South Africa’s struggle to safeguard its last investment grade credit rating has failed to convince the most credit-sensitive global investors and many active fund managers have already voted with their feet. The precarious credit rating of the continent’s most industrialised nation was put back in play once again last month after the government issued a bleak mid-term budget statement that slashed the growth forecast and showed government debt racing to more than 70% of gross domestic product by 2023.
