Downgrade to junk status will impact on food security – Agbiz

Standard & Poor’s (S&P’s) decision to downgrade South Africa’s sovereign debt to junk status will have a significant impact on the country’s agribusiness sector, with a knock-on effect on consumers, agricultural business chamber Agbiz said on Friday. CEO Dr John Purchase explained that the downgrade would impact food security, noting that the “irresponsible” political developments would, in time, manifest in higher food prices, and severely compromise the country’s “good food security status”.