South African Rand Extends Gain as Ramaphosa Unveils Cabinet
South African Rand Extends Gain as Ramaphosa Unveils Cabinet
(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s rand extended an advance after President Cyril Ramaphosa reduced the size of his cabinet and reappointed Tito Mboweni as finance minister and Pravin Gordhan to the public enterprises portfolio.
The rand gained 0.4% to 14.6835 per dollar by 9:13 p.m. in Johannesburg after weakening as much as 1.1% earlier.
The inclusion of Mboweni and Gordhan, seen as Ramaphosa’s allies in his efforts to reform state-owned companies and root out corruption, helped steady investors’ nerves after an unexpected delay in the announcement of the cabinet stoked concerns that the president was facing opposition within the ruling African National Congress.
Ramaphosa, who secured a five-year term when the ANC won a parliamentary majority on May 8, had pledged to clean up a cabinet that included several tainted officials inherited from his predecessor, Jacob Zuma. His reappointment of David Mabuza, who’s been implicated in a string of scandals, as deputy president reflects the political trade-offs he’s had to make.
To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Brand in Cape Town at rbrand9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dana El Baltaji at delbaltaji@bloomberg.net, Rene Vollgraaff
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