JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa needs to fix its politics in order to grow its economy, as credit rating agencies have emphasised, Treasury director-general Lungisa Fuzile said on Monday.

S&P Global Ratings downgraded South Africa’s local debt by one notch to BBB on Dec. 2 but kept its sovereign credit rating unchanged at BBB- with a negative outlook, warning that political tensions could hamper efforts to boost GDP.

Fitch and Moody’s also warned that political turmoil could derail economic growth when they affirmed their own investment grade ratings.

(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Writing by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by Andrew Roche)