Moody's turns positive on sub-Saharan African countries
FREE Breaking News Alerts from StreetInsider.com!
StreetInsider.com Top Tickers, 10/7/2026
- Nasdaq, S&P 500 slip from record highs as yields and oil rebound
- Want to be a stock market bear? BCA says watch potential U.S. tax increases
- SpaceX seeks $40bn in financing for Nvidia chip purchase
- Chip stock could soar nearly 200%, analyst says: "If you don’t buy it, they will"
- Musk rules out TSMC role in Terafab operations; Intel gains
Tweet
Share
E-mailBy Colleen Goko
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Moody's raised its outlook for sub-Saharan African countries to positive on Wednesday, saying reforms had helped them weather inflationary pressures, while strong commodity prices and easier access to financing had improved their fiscal positions.
Moody's made the following observations:
• Cautions that heavy debt repayment burdens, limited government income and risks from climate change and regional security threats remain major weak spots
• Expects the region's economies to grow 4.3% in both 2026 and 2027, measured as a weighted average across countries.
• Forecasts the amount governments need to borrow each year, to cover deficits and repay maturing debt, will decline to 11.2% of GDP in 2027 from a peak of 12.3% in 2025
• Predicts total government debt will level off at 56.6% of GDP in 2027, down from 62.4% in 2025.
• Expects Zambia and Ethiopia to see the biggest drops in debt. Botswana, hit by weak diamond demand, and Gabon, which is struggling to rein in spending, will see the sharpest rises
• Kenya and Zambia will each spend about 35% of their government revenue just on interest payments in 2027, more than any other country in the region.
• Warns a prolonged surge in inflation, severe weather events or a sudden investor pullback from the region's bond markets could darken the picture
• Only two of the 25 countries it rates in the region, Botswana and Mauritius, are investment grade, meaning it considers them relatively low-risk borrowers
• Of the 25, eight have positive outlooks — South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Republic of Congo and Zambia — 13 are stable and four are negative: Mauritius, Gabon, Mali and Senegal
(Reporting by Colleen Goko; Editing by Alexander Smith)
Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!
You May Also Be Interested In
- Webull sinks after CNBC reports US House panel flagged China ties
- Thailand at 'last paragraph' of US trade agreement, PM says
- Wall St opens lower as bond yields and oil rebound; Fed minutes in focus
Create E-mail Alert Related Categories
ReutersSign up for StreetInsider Free!
Receive full access to all new and archived articles, unlimited portfolio tracking, e-mail alerts, custom newswires and RSS feeds - and more!
