South Africa’s Credibility Limited By Strikes, Downgrades

Bloomberg reported South Africa’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said the country’s credibility with investors has been hurt by platinum strikes and two credit downgrades.

As quoted in the market news:

The government and businesses are addressing the concerns of ratings companies and the causes of the strikes in the mining industry, Gordhan said last night in a speech in Johannesburg.

South Africa’s economy is growing this year at the slowest pace since the 2009 recession, the government says, as strikes that started in platinum and gold mines cut output and exports, and the European recession hurts demand for manufactured exports. Walkouts have cost more than 10 billion rand ($1.1 billion) in lost mine output and will probably shave about 0.5 percentage point off economic growth, Gordhan has said.

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