Though South Africa dodged a bullet when two credit ratings agencies held off relegating it to "junk" status on Friday, the gloomy view they have of the country means the investment climate momentum is downwards and greater efforts are needed to boost the economy.Fitch changed the outlook on its assessment to negative from stable and warned that continued political instability could bring a downgrade. Moody's said a weakening rand and low economic growth were among factors driving an increase in debt as a percentage of GDP, though it did not make an announcement on the country's rating or outlook."It does strengthen the narrative that things are pretty troubling right now and that the country really needs to turn things around," said John Ashbourne, the Africa economist at Capital Economics in London."They are sending the same signal as what we have had from [rival third agency] Standard & Poor's since late last year that the next move is down to a place where you don't want to be," said Christie Viljoen, an economist at KPMG.The Treasury director-general Lungisa Fuzile was slightly more upbeat."This buys us more time. I really believe we are on the brink of turning things around."Eskom's downgrade by S&P was a vote of no confidence in the power producer, its leadership specifically and in the relatively weak corporate governance of state-owned entities in South Africa, said the opposition DA...