Goldman Sachs Sees South Africa Credit Ratings Set for Upgrade

Goldman Sachs Group has reaffirmed its expectation that South Africa's credit ratings will improve in the next year. The country's revenue outperformance, particularly in corporate tax collections, has strengthened its fiscal position.

The semi-annualized figure for corporate tax collections reached R385 billion in June, exceeding both the 2025-26 fiscal year's collection of R345 billion and the projected R364 billion for the 2026-27 fiscal year. This surge was largely driven by mining-industry export profits.

Andrew Matheny, an economist at Goldman Sachs, stated that this continued strength in fiscal data supports their expectation of upgrades from Moody's and S&P over the next year. If implemented, these upgrades would lift South Africa's rating to BB+ from its current BB status.