Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s upcoming trip to the US for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring Meetings and further interactions with rating agencies received a thumbs up from Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa today.

 “Well, the Minister is going to the Spring IMF meetings and this meeting [forms part of] continuous internal government briefings about what the Minister is going to be doing. We are very supportive of the Minister and his team as they are going to showcase South Africa to the world,” said Ramaphosa.

Following Gigaba’s scheduled briefing of the Deputy President, the two reiterated South Africa’s commitment to inclusive growth, poverty alleviation and speedy reform of State-owned enterprises.

The meeting between Ramaphosa and Gigaba follows the briefing by Gigaba to domestic investors as well as the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) special executive committee, which was chaired by Ramaphosa, in Johannesburg, on April 11.
 
That meeting was held to assess and respond to the current challenges facing South Africa following the recent decisions of two ratings agencies to downgrade the country to sub-investment grade.
 
Building upon past experiences particularly in dealing with the 2008 global economic crisis, the Nedlac meeting expressed confidence in the ability of the social partners – government, business, labour and communities - collectively to act together and constructively assist the country to mitigate the impact of the downgrade.
 
A high level Nedlac task team, to be briefed by National Treasury, was established and will meet regularly to coordinate South Africa’s all-round efforts to respond to the current challenges, government’s news service stated.