The Congress of South African Trade Unions says although the country survived being lowered to ‘junk status’‚ the country shouldn’t think economic hitches are over as it is still a “crisis”.
This comes as credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s on Friday affirmed the country’s long- and short-term foreign and local currency bond ratings at ‘BBB-/A-3’ and ‘BBB+/A-2’‚ respectively. This meant that the country’s credit rating remained unchanged.
On Monday‚ Cosatu said it recognised the importance of the impact that ratings agencies had on “encouraging or discouraging” badly needed investment and bank lending rates.
“While it’s imperative for our government to prove its ability and willingness to meet its financial obligations in full and on time; it is also important for it to prove the same commitment and ability to meet its service delivery obligations to the citizens‚” said Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla.
“Cosatu is worried that the political and economic reforms that are being proposed are targeted at pacifying investors and not the citizens. The ratings agencies should not be used to reintroduce the privatisation of State Owned Entities programme and also revive the discourse about the deregulation of labour and more austerity measures‚” Pamla said.
He said the myriad of challenges facing South Africa’s economy were not new and that workers had been in a perpetual and devastating economic crisis long before the ratings agencies graced news coverage.
However‚ delivering his key note address during Gauteng’s local government election manifesto launch at FNB Stadium in Soweto this past weekend‚ President Jacob Zuma welcomed the decision by S& P.
“I congratulate Team South Africa‚ constituted by government‚ business and labour‚ for the sterling work that has been done over the last few months to turn our economy around‚” he said in a statement.
“The decision by Standard and Poor’s ... which follows on the footsteps of yet another encouraging decision by Moody’s‚ demonstrates that working together we can reignite our economy‚ attract investment and create jobs for our people. Let us use these positive developments to work even harder together to move South Africa forward‚” Zuma said.
Cosatu went on to say South Africa should learn lessons from the Greek tragedy and examine existing development models to establish what was suitable for the country’s economy.
The trade union federation ‚ which has the largest support among the working class‚ said although the government had managed to keep inflation within the 3% to 6% target range‚ workers all too often experience inflation in double digits year after year with massive electricity‚ municipal tariff‚ petrol‚ transport‚ education and food price increases.
“Government must accept that its economic policies have failed to ensure decent permanent work for all. We cannot afford to continue with our business as usual approach‚ when one out of three people are unemployed‚” Pamla said in a statement.
He urged government and the private sector to act fast to reindustrialise the “battered” economy.
TMG Digital/TMG Local Government team
SA survived ‘junk status’ but economy still in crisis‚ says Cosatu
The Congress of South African Trade Unions says although the country survived being lowered to ‘junk status’‚ the country shouldn’t think economic hitches are over as it is still a “crisis”.
This comes as credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s on Friday affirmed the country’s long- and short-term foreign and local currency bond ratings at ‘BBB-/A-3’ and ‘BBB+/A-2’‚ respectively. This meant that the country’s credit rating remained unchanged.
On Monday‚ Cosatu said it recognised the importance of the impact that ratings agencies had on “encouraging or discouraging” badly needed investment and bank lending rates.
“While it’s imperative for our government to prove its ability and willingness to meet its financial obligations in full and on time; it is also important for it to prove the same commitment and ability to meet its service delivery obligations to the citizens‚” said Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla.
“Cosatu is worried that the political and economic reforms that are being proposed are targeted at pacifying investors and not the citizens. The ratings agencies should not be used to reintroduce the privatisation of State Owned Entities programme and also revive the discourse about the deregulation of labour and more austerity measures‚” Pamla said.
He said the myriad of challenges facing South Africa’s economy were not new and that workers had been in a perpetual and devastating economic crisis long before the ratings agencies graced news coverage.
However‚ delivering his key note address during Gauteng’s local government election manifesto launch at FNB Stadium in Soweto this past weekend‚ President Jacob Zuma welcomed the decision by S& P.
“I congratulate Team South Africa‚ constituted by government‚ business and labour‚ for the sterling work that has been done over the last few months to turn our economy around‚” he said in a statement.
“The decision by Standard and Poor’s ... which follows on the footsteps of yet another encouraging decision by Moody’s‚ demonstrates that working together we can reignite our economy‚ attract investment and create jobs for our people. Let us use these positive developments to work even harder together to move South Africa forward‚” Zuma said.
Cosatu went on to say South Africa should learn lessons from the Greek tragedy and examine existing development models to establish what was suitable for the country’s economy.
The trade union federation ‚ which has the largest support among the working class‚ said although the government had managed to keep inflation within the 3% to 6% target range‚ workers all too often experience inflation in double digits year after year with massive electricity‚ municipal tariff‚ petrol‚ transport‚ education and food price increases.
“Government must accept that its economic policies have failed to ensure decent permanent work for all. We cannot afford to continue with our business as usual approach‚ when one out of three people are unemployed‚” Pamla said in a statement.
He urged government and the private sector to act fast to reindustrialise the “battered” economy.
TMG Digital/TMG Local Government team
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