JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's economic stimulus package is unlikely to boost the country's sluggish economy growth significantly, international ratings agency Fitch said on Tuesday.
Several of the measures relate to existing proposals and others will take time to finalize and to have an impact, the ratings agency said in a report.
"The plan does include measures that could support growth, but many relate to long-standing policy ideas that have been slow to implement," Fitch said in the report.
"For example, the approval of the revised Mining Charter was widely anticipated, but its likely impact remains unclear. The decision not to proceed with the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act Amendment Bill had already been announced and replacement legislation will take time to draft. Radio spectrum auctions have also been delayed," said Fitch.
On Friday, South African president also announced an infrastructure fund, but the ratings agency said the fund was silent on how it would be operated.
"This could be modestly positive for growth as the measures targeted could have a greater multiplier effect, as could greater public-private infrastructure investment. But it is not clear how the planned infrastructure fund would operate and whether it will increase contingent liabilities to the government," said Fitch.
Fitch expects growth of 0.7 percent this year, lower than the 1.3 percent estimated by the South African Treasury.
After a number of meetings with public and private sector role-players in June, Fitch affirmed the country's BB+ rating with a stable outlook.
