South Africa can avoid credit downgrades - Gordhan

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa is making progress towards avoiding rating downgrades despite the economy not growing fast enough, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan told a trade union gathering on Wednesday a week before reading his mid-term budget speech. Ratings agencies have warned they could cut the country's credit rating to "junk" by year-end if the country does not lift growth to at least 1 percent annually. "As a country we have to understand that unless we solve the low growth probl