LONDON – Standard&Poor's CreditWire 4/3/98 -- Standard&Poor's today affirmed the Republic of South Africa's double-'B'-plus long-term foreign currency and triple-'B'-plus local currency sovereign credit and senior unsecured ratings but revised the outlook to stable from positive. Standard&Poor's also assigned the republic short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings of single-'B' and 'A-2,' respectively. The change in the outlook reflects the modest impact of government reforms on South Africa's growth prospects, which remain relatively poor, as well as the challenges this may pose to maintaining consensus on economic policy medium term. Absent wider-ranging privatization and labor market deregulation -- for which domestic political support still is evolving -- the country is unlikely to attract
