[2] Roughly 90% of the national debt in 2019/20 was denominated in South African rand thereby reducing borrowing risk due to currency fluctuations.
[1] During apartheid South Africa faced a worsening financial situation stemming from an economic recession and increasing international sanctions in the 1980s.
[5] The deteriorating political situation stemming from apartheid policies resulted in "huge capital outflows and a temporary closure of foreign exchange markets" between 1984 and 1985.
[12] South Africa's debt grew between 2008 and 2012 as the country prepared for the 2010 FIFA World Cup[13] and run a countercyclical fiscal policy in response to the financial crisis of 2007-2008[14] and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
[14] As of 2020, at current rates of expenditure and revenue generation it is expected that by 2028/29 the country's debt to GDP ratio will exceed 100%.