With the average maturity of government debt at around 10 years, India has one of the longest maturity profiles in the world, which proved to be a source of major strength and comfort during the crisis. 38. It could be argued that public debt management in India has been effective because the Reserve Bank, which is the monetary authority, is also entrusted this task.
South Africa’s current account balance nonetheless deteriorated in the first quarter from 4,6 per cent of GDP in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 5,0 per cent of GDP. This outcome was largely as a result of the widening deficit on the services, income and current transfer accounts.