Of the 17 economists in a Bloomberg survey, nine forecast that Moody’s Investors Service will change its outlook on the nation’s credit rating to negative before the end of the year. That is as billions of dollars in bailouts for the cash-strapped Eskom will probably push the budget deficit to a decade high and the economy is struggling to gain traction after last year’s recession.

Mboweni will present the medium-term budget policy statement, that outlines plans for the next three years, on October 30, two days before Moody’s is due to reassess South Africa’s rating.

While the focus will be on the budget and how the government will rein in debt that’s fast approaching 60% of gross domestic product, investors and rating companies are also looking out for long-awaited structural reforms by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government. Mboweni is expected to soon release an updated version of his August economic policy paper that proposes a raft of steps to boost economic growth.

Moneyweb