Moody’s revoked the country’s investment-grade status on the first day of the nationwide lockdown.

On Friday, 27 March, Moody’s, the last grading agency to still deem South Africa’s economy as investment grade, downgraded their credit rating to junk status. The downgrade comes at a time when the country’s economy is already pushed to its limits thanks to the lockdown. South Africa is, however, not the only country facing an economic crisis. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, countries around the globe are in financial turmoil. South Africa’s government hopes to balance out the negative backlash from the downgrade with its various relief packages that are being released into the economy.