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Ratings reprieve for South Africa, but there is work to be done

06 December 2016 | Economy

After a tense period in which the three major global ratings agencies assessed the local economy, government policy and more, South Africans can head into the festive season feeling a bit more at ease, knowing that the country has maintained its investment grade rating. The third major ratings agency, S&P Global Ratings, left the foreign currency rating unchanged at BBB- with a negative outlook. S&P cut South Africa’s local currency rating by a notch to BBB, bringing the local and foreign currency ratings closer together.

S&P downgrade: remember the rand debt is two notches above junk

02 December 2016 | Economy

Says Arthur Kamp, investment economist at Sanlam Investments, as fixated as we are with the possibility of a downgrade to sub-investment grade by ratings agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P), all may not be as gloomy as predicted. One has to be careful to distinguish between our foreign currency debt and our local currency debt in determining the true extent of the debt burden, says Kamp.

Should investors be concerned about short- and medium-term volatility and returns?

01 December 2016 | General

South Africa multi-asset high equity portfolios attracted net annual inflows of R16.5 billion to the end of the third quarter of 2016. General equity portfolios recorded net annual inflows of R3.2 billion over a similar period. This is according to collective investment schemes (CIS) statistics for the quarter and year ending June 2016 released by the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA). A senior policy adviser at ASISA, Sunette Mulder, says that most investors, and their advisers, have opted for a portfolio that offers similar returns to a general equity portfolio but with a more diversified risk profile to reduce volatility over the short and medium term.

Old Mutual Alternative Investments highlights key growth areas for Private Equity in 2017

01 December 2016 | Equities

With the International Monetary Fund predicting 0.8% GDP growth for South Africa in 2017, it is clear that there is a critical need to find an effective model outside of the public and listed company sectors to fund the projects required to stimulate growth.

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