S. African finance minister says Moody's “schizophrenic”March 1, 2012 - 17:30 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan slammed Moody's on Thursday, March 1 after the ratings agency downgraded five of the country's banks and a state-owned company by one notch this week. “They are not giving us enough credit for managing our economy in a counter-cyclical way,” said Gordhan, according to local media. “They have a problem of schizophrenia.” He said the agencies had first demanded austerity measures to bring down debt, but then wanted to see high growth rates. “You can't have both,” Gordhan said, adding that a balance was needed. “These ratings agencies where shown up for their inadequacy in the lead-up to the global financial crisis,” Gordhan said. “They are now using Europe's debt problems as the brush to paint everyone with, notwithstanding our excellent fiscal management.” South Africa's government debt stands at about 39 per cent of gross domestic product. As M&C reported citing DPA, Moody's had downgraded the banks and the infrastructure development company, citing concerns that the government would have trouble bailing out the systematically important businesses should crisis strike. 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. |