South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on Thursday criticised the world-famous credit rating agency Moody’s for downgrading its financial institutions. On Wednesday, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded by one notch the senior debt and deposit ratings of five famous banks of the South African banking sector, including Standard Bank of South Africa, Absa Bank, FirstRand, Nedbank and Investec.“We disagree with the assessment of our banks, and they are not giving enough credit for managing the country’s economy,” said the minister at the launch of the Black Business Council near Johannesburg. The minister said some rating agencies have drawn strong criticism for their “inadequacies” since the global economic meltdown in 2008, and “they want to paint us with the same brush now.”As the central bank of South Africa, the South African Reserve Bank said those downgraded banks had weathered the global financial crisis well, with no exposures to the Sovereign debt crisis of some trouble European countries. They are sound, well capitalized, providing investors with acceptable returns.
