61.   Nippon Investors Service, the Japanese credit rating agency, has awarded South Africa a BBB long-term foreign currency debt rating, Minister of Finance Chris Liebenberg said Wednesday.

62.   The financial ratings firm Standard and Poors meanwhile revised its ratings outlook on Bankers Trust to negative from stable, and affirmed all its debt ratings.

63.   The industry has since seen credit rating agencies reduce their debt ratings or threatening to do so.