Fitch said the outlook revision reflects a marked widening in the budget deficit as a result of lower GDP growth and increased spending.

This includes support for state-owned enterprises (SOE) like Eskom.

"Renewed downward revisions to GDP growth in 2019 also raise new questions about South Africa's GDP growth potential," Fitch said in a statement.

The rand has weakened to above R14/$ on Friday and an analyst has warned it could breach R15/$ in the long term.

The local unit started its decline earlier this week after Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on Tuesday tabled a special appropriations bill for Eskom to receive R59-billion from government over the next two years.

The rand has struggled to make meaningful recoveries since then and weakened as much as 1.5 percent on Thursday to close at R14.08/$ following a report by Moody's warning that the Eskom bailout would be credit negative.

Mpho Tsebe, economist at RMB Global Markets research, said that a lower-than-expected GDP figure would result in expectations of a rate cut being moderated. "[This] will be dollar positive but negative for the rand and other emergency currencies."

eNCA