Appointment of new South African Finance Minister strengthens rand

The South African rand rallied yesterday as President Jacob Zuma performed a U-turn and appointed an experienced Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan. After the firing of the previous Finance minister, Nhlanhla Nene, last Wednesday, we saw a bout of rand weakness which was intensified further on Friday when Zuma hired a little-known lawmaker for the post.

His new appointment, however, has a wealth of experience as Gordhan previously served in this post from 2009-14. As a result, we have seen the rand have its best movement since 2006, strengthening by 8.5%.

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