CEO Column: Finally an upward rating

Twenty-five years ago there was no WhatsApp and no Twitter. YouTube and Facebook were still years from being launched, and Nkandla was still an unknown rural service town in KwaZulu-Natal.

That’s how long ago South Africa had a ratings agency upgrade before last week, when S&P Global (Standard and Poor) lifted by one notch our foreign currency long-term sovereign credit rating.  

The upgrade has already ruffled local markets, in a good way, and raised prospects of further upgrades from other ratings agencies. It came just three days after an encouraging Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement from Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, who was surely relieved to have some good news to share.

It is important to emphasise that the ratings upgrade is testimony to a fundamental shift in South Africa’s growth prospects. It was a battle won in small skirmishes, by suit warriors armed with graphs and spreadsheets – the ammunition of a business case for private sector-led growth.  Small gains at first, in the energy and logistics sector, have spawned a new narrative of public-private partnership, clearly articulated in the MTBPS.

We see the same commitment here in the Western Cape where the Cape Chamber is working constructively with our public sector partners to effect change at multiple levels. In the security sector, we work closely with SAPS to drive smart solutions to crimefighting challenges. In the logistics space we sit on the Port Liaison Forum to help with oversight of critical Port infrastructure.  

We are also collaborating with local government partners in a project aimed at setting up Competitive Industrial Parks with the potential to boost manufacturing and job-creation.

We engage constructively with Government partners in other critical areas, such as transport  and energy, all with a view to removing impediments to economic growth – our key mandate.

A ratings upgrade is therefore just rewards for the positive momentum we encounter in our daily shared efforts to strengthen our business ecosystem.  

With more ratings upgrades on the horizon, we don’t foresee another twenty-five year wait for more S&P good news.
 

John Lawson
CEO of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry