The Land Bank has become the first big state-owned company in SA to be relegated to junk status by Moody’s rating agency. The New York-based agency, which is the last remaining among the big three to rate SA as investment grade economy, said given government’s fiscal challenges, it expected less financial support for the Land Bank from the state.
The agency downgraded Land Bank’s long-term issuer ratings to Ba1 from Baa3. This is a notch below investment grade. It’s also a notch below SA’s sovereign rating, which the agency affirmed at Baa3 with a negative outlook in November, and also below Transnet and Eskom, who continue to enjoy a Baa3 rating from Moody’s, despite the latter’s debt and solvency woes. Land Bank’s short-term issuer ratings were downgraded to “Not Prime” from P-3.
“The ratings downgrade reflects Moody’s assessment that ongoing fiscal challenges suggest that the South African government will be more selective in dispersing finan
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