ANC welcomes Moody's credit rating as 'a vote of confidence'

The ANC believes that rating agency Moody's retention of South Africa’s investment grade is a vote of confidence in the ruling party.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the party said Moody's decision to keep its investment rating for the country above sub-investment grade showed confidence in the government's "efforts to set our economy on a sustained growth trajectory".

"The ANC government is implementing a range of measures to set the country on a new path of growth, employment and transformation. The ANC has also taken decisive steps which are aimed at rebuilding investor confidence," said the party.

"South Africa has been ranked as number six in Africa in terms of investment attractiveness, which is a positive indicator which the ANC encourages government to leverage on.

"The retention of our investment grade is consistent with the recent first-quarter report on job creation, as released by Stats SA. Our target from the job summit last year was 275,000. The first quarter report shows that we have created about 87,000 jobs."

Earlier this week, Moody's said the country's credit rating remains at BAA3 with a stable outlook - but warned of Eskom's risk to the fiscus.