According to Allianz Trade, South Africa is among 21 countries showing resilience in the face of increased local strains and global shocks.
In its recently released country risk atlas, the international insurer has upgraded South Africa’s country risk rating, giving foreign investment confidence a much-needed boost.
In an interview with ENCA, Allianz Trade’s Senior Economist for Africa and the Middle East, Luca Moneta explained that despite greater fiscal strains related to loadshedding and inflation in the past 18 months, the ability of South African households and businesses to get by, even at a cost, are cause for a relatively optimistic mid-to-long-term outlook.
“The country risk rating is made up of a set of indicators that we update quarterly and these indicators help us to make a judgement about the mid-to-long-term outlook, which we summarise in a letter from AA to D, and a short-term outlook, which we summarise in a number from 1 (best) to 4,“ he said. “In South Africa’s case, the mid-to-long-term outlook was lifted from C to B, and the short-term outlook is 3.“
While we’ve no doubt there’ll be tough times ahead – calling for increasingly prudent risk management – at Cinque we’re highly encouraged by this news!