On Nov. 24, 2017, we lowered our long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating on South Africa to 'BB' from 'BB+' and revised our outlook to stable. In our view, the sovereign downgrade reflects increased risks to South Africa-based MTN Group, including the potential impact of weaker economic growth on its revenues and credit metrics. However, we see a modest reduction in MTN's combined sovereign risk in South Africa and Nigeria, since revenues from the riskier Nigerian market have decreased, due to a weakening of the naira. We are therefore affirming our 'BB+' ratings on MTN and its senior unsecured debt. The outlook remains negative, reflecting the possibility that we could downgrade MTN over the next year if weaker market conditions
