LONDON (Standard&Poor's) May 20, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said it had assigned a 'BBB+' rating to the new 10-Year $1.5 billion bond issued by the Republic of South Africa (foreign currency BBB+/Negative/A-2, local currency A+/Negative/A-1). "The ratings on South Africa are supported by its prudent macroeconomic policies, a moderate debt burden, and stable political institutions," Standard&Poor's credit analyst Remy Salters said. "These are balanced by continued high reliance on external portfolio inflows in the context of a large current account deficit, and severe structural socioeconomic weaknesses." We anticipate a GDP contraction of 1.5% in 2009, and growth below trend in 2010. This is more pessimistic than the projections that underpinned the 2009/2010 budget, and
