S&P cuts South Africa's credit rating one notchOctober 12, 2012 - 22:02 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Standard & Poor's on Friday, Oct 12, cut South Africa's credit rating one notch to BBB with a negative outlook, saying mining strikes and social tension could reduce fiscal flexibility and hurt growth, Reuters reported. "We expect underlying social tensions may result in amplified spending pressures and reduce fiscal flexibility for the government," S&P said in a statement. In particular, the ratings agency said mining strikes could influence political debate ahead of 2014 elections and "may increase uncertainties related to the African National Congress' future policy framework." S&P's downgrade from BBB-plus takes it one notch below both Moody's Investors Service's Baa1 rating with a negative outlook as well as Fitch Ratings' BBB-plus rating, also with a negative outlook. "The negative outlook reflects our view that the medium-term political, economic and fiscal ramifications of South Africa's social tensions could deteriorate beyond our current expectations," S&P said. S&P added that it sees South African growth softening to around 2.5 percent in 2012 and the budget deficit increasing to at least 5.1 percent of output. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | The Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life charity The companies inform that the May beneficiary of The Power of One Dram is the “Road of Life” charitable organization. Ucom General Director gives lecture at French University in Armenia The General Director of Ucom Ralph Yirikian delivered a lecture at the French University of Armenia. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. |